The Third Circuit denied review of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's decision to grant a CWA §401 certification for a natural gas pipeline project. Environmental groups argued that the department acted arbitrarily and capriciously by issuing a §401 certification that was im...

A Pennsylvania state court granted in part and denied in part an industry trade group's challenge to state rules governing hydraulic fracturing near playgrounds. The group argued that the rules' definitions for "common areas of a school's property" and "playground" were unlawful, unreasonable, and u...

The Ninth Circuit denied an environmental group's petition to review EPA's approval of a Montana SIP revision. The group argued that the approval was arbitrary and capricious because Montana's Department of Environmental Quality interpreted one of the SIP's provisions less stringently than the CAA a...

The court holds that the government must only return the net rental proceeds and not the mortgage payments of property it seized in a civil forfeiture that was then foreclosed by the property's mortgagee. The government seized the property in connection with a drug trafficking case and collected ren...

The court upholds an individual's conviction for the illegal smuggling and trade of endangered tortoises, but vacates and remands the individual's sentence. The court first affirms the individual's conviction. Despite the individual's claims of innocence, ample evidence in the record supports his co...

The Ninth Circuit reversed in part a district court's summary judgment that upheld FWS' decision not to list the arctic grayling as an endangered or threatened species under the ESA. Environmental groups argued that FWS erred in considering only the current range of the arctic grayling when determin...

The D.C. Circuit granted in part environmental groups' petition challenging EPA's 2015 rule governing the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCRs) produced by electric utilities and independent power plants. The groups argued that the rule unlawfully disregarded significant risks of harmful leak...

The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's rule delaying the 2017 Chemical Disaster Rule, which established safety standards for chemical facilities. The Agency argued that it had authority under CAA §112 to delay the effective date of the Rule beyond the ninety-day limit set forth in CAA §307 because ninety ...

A state review board affirmed the Washington Department of Ecology's denial of a CWA §401 certification requested by a coal company for a proposed coal export terminal. The company argued that its request was categorically exempt from the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), and that the departme...

A district court ruled in favor of environmental groups' challenge EPA's rule suspending the 2015 Waters of the United States Rule (WOTUS Rule), and enjoined the suspension rule nationwide. The groups argued that the suspension rule violated the APA by refusing to solicit public comments on the meri...