The D.C. Circuit vacated a license issued by FERC for operation of a hydroelectric dam on the Susquehanna River in Maryland. The state of Maryland issued a CWA §401(a)(1) certification to the dam's operator in 2018 with conditions. The operator challenged the certification, and the parties reached ...

A district court granted in part and denied in part an animal sanctuary's motion to dismiss an ESA citizen suit brought by an animal rights group. The group alleged the sanctuary violated the ESA by taking endangered or threatened species, unlawfully possessing ESA-protected animals, and unlawfully ...

The D.C. Circuit, 2-1, remanded to FERC a 2018 decision to give all transmission owners unilateral authority to fund power line upgrades in the Midwest. The Commission had initially only allowed direct transmission owners to decide between the generators paying for the line upgrades upfront, or payi...

A district court held that hundreds of Louisiana residents seeking damages in a mass tort action concerning landfill emissions in Jefferson Parish established general causation. The court found the residents proved by a preponderance of the evidence that gases and odors were emitted from the landfil...

A district court granted summary judgment for NMFS in a challenge to a 2019 rule requiring turtle excluder devices on skimmer trawl vessels greater than 40 feet in length in inshore waters. The final rule was published on December 20, 2019, with an effective date of April 1, 2021, but NMFS issued a ...

A district court granted bottling companies' motion to dismiss a deceptive marketing challenge to their "100% recyclable" labels. Consumers and an environmental group argued the labels were false and misleading because most plastic bottles are not recycled. The companies moved to dismiss for lack of...

The D.C. Circuit granted environmental groups' motion for writ of mandamus to require EPA to complete its effects determination for the registered pesticide cyantraniliproles. The groups argued EPA was eight years past its deadline under the ESA to complete the effects determination, that it had fai...

A district court granted in part and denied in part conservation groups' motion for an order on remedy after it invalidated NMFS' 2021 biological opinion (BiOp) and final rule as related to the U.S. lobster fishery. The parties agreed the rule should be remanded without vacatur to NMFS along with an...

A district court granted DOD's motion to dismiss a challenge to its decision to halt fence construction along the U.S.-Mexico border in response to President Biden's proclamation declaring an end to the national border emergency. A corporation that owns land adjacent to the fence argued that DOD's d...

A district court granted the District of Columbia's motion to remand to state court a consumer protection lawsuit against energy companies. The District sued in state court, arguing the companies knowingly misrepresented the effects of fossil fuel products to consumers through misleading advertiseme...