A Pennsylvania court dismissed developers' lawsuit against environmental activists and township residents for alleged tortious interference with contract with respect to a series of oil and gas leases. In an underlying suit, the activists and residents had challenged permits as well as a local ordin...

The Texas Supreme Court held that the common-law "accommodation doctrine," which gives an oil-and-gas lessee an implied right to use the land as reasonably necessary to produce and remove the minerals as long as it exercises that right with due regard for the landowner's rights, also extends to grou...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers jurisdictional determination (JD) is a final agency action subject to judicial review under the APA. The case arose in connection with the permitting process for a peat mine. The mine obtained an approved JD from the Corps stating that ...

The Vermont Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision dismissing as untimely the state's claims against a number of companies for generalized injury to state waters due to groundwater contamination from methyl tertiary butyl ether, a gasoline additive. The state's lawsuit was barred by the six-y...

A district court vacated two FWS depredation orders reauthorizing the killing of double-crested cormorants in certain states. The court previously held that FWS violated NEPA when it reissued the orders. At issue here was the remedy. FWS argued that remand without vacatur was appropriate, whereas pl...

A district court stayed further proceedings in litigation challenging EPA's "waters of the United States" (WOTUS) rule pending any further decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court. Numerous challenges throughout the country have been levied against the fi...

The Florida Supreme Court held that the state's public utility commission exceeded its statutory rate-setting authority when it allowed an electric company to use customer money to recover costs incurred investing in a shale gas operation in Oklahoma. The company asserted that its ownership interest...

Massachusetts' highest court held that the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) failed to issue regulations setting limits on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as required by Massachusetts' Global Warming Solutions Act §3(d). DEP claimed it complied with its statutory mandate by establi...

In an unpublished opinion, a district court held that a developer may go forward with its CERCLA, tort law, and fraudulent concealment claims against the former owner of contaminated property under which PCB-contaminated USTs were discovered after the developer purchased the property. The developer ...

The court holds that §§309(g)(6)(A)(ii) and 505(b)(1) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) do not bar a citizen suit against a textile facility for violations of its national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permits and Georgia's instream water quality standards, and ru...