A district court dismissed a case alleging racketeering and civil rights violations against state officials and oil companies in connection with illegal increases in oil production to maximize profits and tax revenue and allowing the injection of salt water into fresh water in violation of the SDWA....

A district court held that an energy company violated the CAA when it undertook major modifications at its power plant without getting the proper permits and installing the best available pollution control technology. The energy company operated a plant that included two grandfathered coal-fired ele...

A Pennsylvania court held that the state Clean Stream Law does not authorize ongoing penalties for the continuing presence of industrial waste in a waterway following its initial entry. In 2012, a waste company informed the state enviromental agency that a subgrade impoundment containing impaired wa...

The Second Circuit overturned a district court ruling that a 2008 EPA rule exempting water transfers from NPDES permitting requirements was contrary to the requirements established by the CWA. Several environmental groups brought suit against the Agency, arguing that water transfers can&nb...

A district court denied a state water and power board's motion to dismiss a CERCLA suit brought by two goverment entities for costs related to a drain project in Lansing, Michigan. The government entities sued the board for the increase in costs assessed for the building of a storm drain in a distri...

The Washington Supreme Court held that the state's Ocean Resources Management Act (ORMA) applies to two bulk liquid storage companies' oil terminal expansions on the shores of Gray Harbor. The two companies applied to expand their bulk liquid storage terminals to allow for the receipt, storage, and ...

The Fourth Circuit held that a district court committed no reversible error in a case where an energy company chairman was convicted of conspiring to violate federal mine safety laws. The case involved an accident on April 5, 2010, at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in Montcoal, West Virginia, which ...

The Sixth Circuit held that the CAA does not categorically prevent EPA from challenging preconstruction projections of whether and to what extent emissions will increase following new source construction. In March 2013, the appellate court reversed and remanded a district court ruling in favor of an...

The court affirms the district court's holding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is immune from suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act for failing to warn citizens that their soil was contaminated with dioxin. The court notes that even if EPA acted negligently, it is immune from suit if...

A district court upheld EPA’s refusal to determine whether new water quality standards were necessary to control nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the mainstem of the Mississippi River and the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The case arose after EPA denied environmental groups' petition to make such a...