The court upholds a $799,000 civil penalty and an injunction imposed against a shipyard operator for failing to implement its stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) and monitoring plan for its discharges to the San Diego Bay in violation of its stormwater permit and the Clean Water Act (CWA). ...

A district court held that that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) need not disclose information about certain chemical facilities per an environmental group's FOIA request. The group sought information regarding previously high-risk facilities that have reduced their chemical holdings. DHS p...

A district court denied a pesticide manufacturer's motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the label on one of its weed-killing products is false and misleading. The product's label states that it targets an enzyme "found in plants but not in people or pets." But an anti-pesticide group alleges th...

The court holds that an environmental group that successfully challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) treatment of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) that were submitted for 10 New York reservoirs was a prevailing party and awards the group $221,732.71 in attorney fees and expen...

The court holds that although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not required under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to set total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for waters in New York State when the state failed do so, EPA must approve or disapprove 10 TMDLs submitted by the state for Agency ap...

The Ninth Circuit held that a property owner who purchased the site at a tax sale is not entitled to CERCLA's third-party defense to liability for cleanup costs. The purchaser had a "contractual relationship" with the prior owner by virtue of the tax sale. Given the breadth of CERCLA's definition of...

The D.C. Circuit held that a mining company must exhaust its administrative remedies before it can challenge potential claims filed against it under the Black Lung Benefits Act (BLBA). The BLBA grants coal miners the right to monthly benefits payments from a former employer in the event they suffer ...

A Minnesota appeals court upheld a lower court decision allowing protestors who face felony charges for shutting down a petroleum pipeline to assert the "necessity" defense. The protestors claimed their actions were necessary to prevent environmental harm caused by the use of fossil fuels, particula...

A Texas court, ruling on a petition for pre-suit discovery, held that it would have jurisdiction over a major oil corporation's potential lawsuit against several California cities that have filed suit against it relating to climate change. The company's potential claims would allege, among other thi...

The court dismissed industry groups' petition to dismiss an environmental group's challenge to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Clean Water Act (CWA) discharge regulations for pulp and paper mills. The industry groups also challenged EPA's regulations, but they argued that the cour...