American Chemistry Council v. Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
A California appellate court upheld the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's (OEHHA's) decision to list bisphenol A (BPA) as a chemical known to cause reproductive toxicity under the state Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. An industry group sought to enjoin the listi...
Sierra Club v. Trump
The Ninth Circuit affirmed, 2-1, a ruling in a lawsuit concerning the Trump Administration's use of military construction funds to build portions of a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. States and an environmental group challenged the Administration's authority to divert funds appropriated fo...
Center for Biological Diversity v. Bernhardt
A district court dismissed for lack of standing a challenge to a 2018 FWS memorandum that withdrew a 2014 memorandum stating the Service's intent to phase out most uses of neonicotinoid pesticides and genetically modified crops (GMCs) within the National Wildlife Refuge System. Environmental groups ...
Time to Rethink the Supreme Court’s Interstate Waters Jurisprudence
This October Term, the U.S. Supreme Court will be asked to weigh in on three and possibly all four of its pending original jurisdiction controversies over interstate waters. The Court’s past judgments and opinions have established little in the way of “federal common law” governing the states’ interests in shared waters. But they have established this much: these interests vest in states-as-states directly under the U.S. Constitution, even if the Court itself is reluctant to specify the interests with much precision or to enjoin violations thereof.
Breaking Precedent: SCOTUS in the Midst of a Pandemic
In County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, the U.S. Supreme Court held, 6-3, that the Clean Water Act requires a national pollutant discharge elimination system permit “when there is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge.” The Court also decided Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian, holding, 7-2, that landowners adjacent to a Superfund site were potentially responsible parties under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act.