Foster v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
A district court denied in part and granted in part EPA's motion to dismiss property owners' lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of an EPA compliance order under CWA §309. EPA determined that, in the course of developing the property, the owners discharged dredge and fill materials into water...
Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Inc. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
A district court upheld the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue a general nationwide permit—NWP 21—authorizing discharges from certain coal mining activities into navigable waters. Despite environmental groups' arguments to the contrary, the Corps' issuance of NWP 21 was neither arbi...
Yadkin Riverkeeper, Inc. v. Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC
A district court denied motions to dismiss environmental groups' CWA citizen suit against an energy company for alleged NPDES permit violations at a retired coal-fired power plant. The groups alleged that the company unlawfully discharged pollutants through engineered seeps, non-engineered seeps, an...
Puget Soundkeeper Alliance v. Ranier Petroleum Corp.
A district court, on motions for summary judgment, held that a marine fueling, service, and storage facility in Seattle was liable under the CWA for various NPDES general permit violations. The company's stormwater discharges exceeded the benchmarks for zinc and copper, the company failed to monitor...
Natural Resources Defense Council v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Second Circuit remanded portions of EPA's 2013 general NPDES permit for ship ballast water, a primary cause of the spread of invasive species from one body of water to another. The general permit imposed both technology-based effluent limitations (TBELs) and water quality-based effluent limitati...
Environmental Protection Agency
The Sixth Circuit issued a nationwide stay enjoining the "waters of the United States" rule pending the court's determination as to whether it has subject matter jurisdiction to review the rule. The court held that the petitioning states demonstrated a substantial possibility of success on the merit...