Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition v. Marfork Coal Co.
A district court held that a coal company discharged excessive amounts of selenium into the waters of West Virginia in violation of the CWA and SMCRA. The environmental group that filed suit against the company has standing, and it satisfied the statutes' 60-day notice requirements for citizen suits...
Whiteman v. Chesapeake Appalachia, L.L.C.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing farmer's West Virginia common law trespass claims against a natural gas company. The landowners sought an injunction and damages stemming from on the company's drilling and operation of three natural gas wells on surface property owned by...
Wisconsin Resources Protection Council v. Flambeau Mining Co
The Seventh Circuit reversed a lower court decision finding a Wisconsin mine operator liable under the CWA for discharging copper into navigable waters without a permit. The CWA's permit shield provision provides that if a NPDES permit holder discharges pollutants in accordance with the terms of its...
Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee LLC v. Shumlin
The Second Circuit upheld a lower court's permanent injunction barring the state of Vermont from bringing an enforcement action, or taking other action, to compel the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to shut down after its license expires on March 21, 2012, if it fails to obtain legislative approv...
La Cuna de Aztlan Sacred Sites Protection Circle Advisory Committee v. United States Department of Interior
A district court dismissed groups' lawsuit challenging BLM's approval of a 370-megawatt utility-scale solar power plant currently under construction in the Mojave Desert. BLM's decision to consider cumulative impacts within a single EIS was not arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or other...
Hawkes Co. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers
A district court dismissed a landowner's lawsuit challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' jurisdictional determination for property that contains peat. The Corps issued its jurisdictional determination after the landowner sought permission to mine peat from the property for use in the construct...
National Ass'n of Home Builders v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
A district court dismissed a homebuilder association's lawsuit against EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers challenging their determination that portions of the Santa Cruz River are traditional navigable waters (TNW) under the CWA. The association lacks standing because it failed to allege a spe...
Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards v. A&P Coal Corp.
A district court held that a mining company is liable under the CWA for the unpermitted discharge of selenium at one its surface mines. The company did not dispute that it has been discharging selenium from the mine, nor did it contest the fact that its permit contains no explicit authorization to d...