The Ninth Circuit held that the owner and operator of a coal export terminal may be held liable under the CWA for non-stormwater discharges of coal into Resurrection Bay, Alaska. Because the facility has been covered under the Multi-Sector General Permit for Stormwater Discharges Associated with Ind...

A district court upheld a dredge-and-fill permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued to a mining company allowing it to conduct surface coal mining activities at a proposed 725-acre site in Boone County, West Virginia. Environmental groups challenged the permit, arguing that the Corps failed to ...

The Eighth Circuit upheld an EPA decision rejecting modifications to Arkansas' water quality standards as they pertain to discharges of dissolved minerals from a chemical manufacturing plant. Arkansas adopted the revisions after the plant initiated a third party rulemaking to increase the levels of ...

The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of environmental groups' RCRA citizen suit against a railroad company seeking to enjoin the emission of particulate matter found in diesel exhaust from the company's railyards. RCRA’s citizen suit provision permits any person to sue the owner or operator of a...

The Eighth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a company's breach of contract and contribution claims against a railroad in connection with a lead-contaminated Superfund site in Omaha, Nebraska. The company paid approximately $200 million to settle its liability with the government, and the railroad set...

A district court upheld a jury verdict that a Wyoming farmer who discharged material into a creek on his property without a permit was exempt from the CWA's permitting requirements. Below, the jury found in the farmer's activities fell under the CWA's "normal farming and ranching activities" exempti...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision approving CERCLA consent decrees between settling parties and the state concerning cleanup costs stemming from a hazardous waste site near Tucson, Arizona. Several nonsettling PRPs intervened in the case, seeking a court ...

A district court held that a mining company allowed excessive amounts of selenium to be discharged from one of its surface coal mine operations in violation of the CWA and SMCRA. The company's state permit does not explicitly impose selenium limitations, but it does incorporate by reference state re...