A district court vacated a jury verdict and award of $4.2 million award in favor of two Pennsylvania families in a case involving well water contamination from a fracking operation. In 2009, 44 families sued an oil company for damages suffered as a result of the company's natural gas drilling operat...

A district court ruled that a Virginia power plant is not liable for CWA penalties associated with its release of coal ash into nearby waters. The case concerns coal ash piles that leached arsenic and other heavy metals into groundwater that contaminated the Elizabeth River and Deep Creek. An enviro...

A district court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment in a case involving a city utility's suit against an upstream drainage district over excess nitrate pollution in the utility's water source. In a prior decision involving these two entities, the Iowa Supreme court held that drainage di...

The D.C. Circuit held that it lacks jurisdiction to hear a challenge to EPA's 2011 stormwater policy letters with respect to publicly owned water treatment facilities. In an 2013 decision, the Eighth Circuit vacated two EPA letters announcing new legislative rules for water treatment processes at mu...

A district court held that EPA violated a nondiscretionary duty under the CWA in not reviewing West Virginia's TMDL submissions. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) identified ionic toxicity as a cause of biological impairment in many streams throughout the state since a...

A district court granted state defendant's motion to dismiss in a case involving water contamination in Flint, Michigan. Plaintiffs alleged violations of the SDWA as well as state tort claims. The court dismissed the SDWA claims for failure to notify officials of intent to sue and declined to exerci...

A district court declined to dismiss state-law tort claims stemming from perflurooctanoic acid (PFOA) that leached into groundwater from a factory in Hoosick Falls, N.Y. Plaintiffs found their water supply contained levels of PFOA that were significantly above safe levels. PFOA is associated with in...

A district court denied EPA's motion to dismiss a claim by environmental groups that the Agency must review California's emergency waiver of federal water quality standards. In the wake of an historic drought, California's governor issued a Drought Emergency Proclamation and directed the State Water...

The Iowa Supreme Court held that a city utility cannot sue upstream drainage districts over excess nitrate pollution in the utility's water source. The utility attempted to sue entities that drain wetlands so they can be turned into productive farmland for monetary damages, claiming agricultural run...

A district court granted summary judgment in favor of a mining company in a case involving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' determination that wetlands intended to be mined of peat had a significant nexus to waters of the United States. The mine obtained an approved jurisdictional determination (JD...