The Ninth Circuit reversed a previous ruling that vacated summary judgment for a California city in a RCRA citizen suit brought by an environmental group. The group had argued the city's water wells were contaminated by hexavalent chromium that was in turn transported to city residents through its w...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed, 2-1, a district court's denial of a Native American group's motion to preliminarily enjoin a land exchange and prevent copper mining on land in Arizona. The group argued the land exchange violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the Free Exercise Clause, and...

The D.C. Circuit denied environmental groups' petition to review FERC's order approving an extension of a natural gas pipeline into North Carolina. The groups specifically challenged the order's approved return on equity rate and the adequacy of the Commission's EIS, arguing that FERC should not hav...

The U.S. Supreme Court held, 6-3, that President Barack Obama's EPA had exceeded its statutory authority under §111(d) of the CAA when it promulgated the Clean Power Plan to address carbon dioxide pollution from existing power plants. States and coal companies had petitioned for review of the plan,...

The Nevada Supreme Court held, 4-3, that the state's top water official had authority to approve a groundwater management plan (GMP) that deviated from the doctrine of prior appropriation for the over-appropriated Diamond Valley Hydrologic Basin. Senior rights holders in the basin sought to invalida...

The Ninth Circuit granted in part and denied in part a petition to review EPA's determination that glyphosate did not pose "any unreasonable risk to man or the environment." Nonprofit groups challenged the Agency's determination, arguing that EPA did not adequately consider whether the weedkiller ca...

The D.C. Circuit affirmed a district court's dismissal of landowners' challenge to FERC's authority to grant pipeline certificates. The landowners asked the district court to declare that Congress' delegation of authority to FERC was unconstitutional and that all past certificates were void, and sou...

The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part petitions to review FERC's order approving the Independent System Operator for New England's (ISO-NE's) tariff revisions that compensated power plants for maintaining up to three days' worth of fuel on-site to generate electricity during winter mon...

The D.C. Circuit upheld FERC's approval of a dam operator's flood protection plan for a nearby water pump station in North Carolina. A city petitioned for review of FERC's approval of the plan, a state-imposed condition of its water quality certification under the CWA, which involved raising the pum...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court's grant of summary judgment in a challenge to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's authorization of well stimulation treatments on offshore oil drilling platforms in t...