A district court held that BLM violated the APA when it postponed compliance with Obama-era greenhouse gas emission rules. Several states and tribal citizen groups brought suit against BLM when it published a notice in the Federal Register postponing compliance dates for certain sections of the Wast...
The Washington state Shorelines Hearing Board denied plans to build a methanol refinery on the Columbia River because the plans failed to adequately consider greenhouse gas emissions. A manufacturing company proposed to manufacture methanol from natural gas supplied by a lateral pipeline, with the m...
The Sixth Circuit held that residents of Flint, Michigan, may pursue class claims against state actors in state court. In January 2016, several plaintiffs filed a class-action lawsuit in state court stemming from the Flint water crisis. In April 2016, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality...
A district court held that the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) did not violate NEPA when it decided to proceed with a water supply project. In 2002, the Province of Manitoba sued under NEPA to prevent the Bureau from proceeding with the Northwest Area Water Supply Project (NAWS), arguing that an Apri...
The D.C. Circuit held that carbon emissions from gas-burning power plants should have been considered in federal regulators’ review of a Florida natural gas pipeline. Environmental groups and landowners challenged a FERC decision to approve the construction and operation of three new interstate na...
A district court allowed suits against two manufacturing companies to go forward for groundwater contamination. Residents of Hoosick Falls, New York, brought suit against the manufacturers after they discovered perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in their water supply. The residents, in 16 consolidated ca...
A California appellate court held that the Water District of Orange County may pursue state Superfund claims for groundwater contamination. In 1998, the District discovered two VOCs in groundwater drawn from the South Basin area. In 2001, perchlorate was discovered in a well, leading the District to...