A district court held a West Virginia coal mine liable under the CWA for discharging excessive amounts of ionic pollution, measured as conductivity and sulfates, into the waters of West Virginia in violation of its NPDES permits. Environmental groups established, by a preponderance of the evidence, ...

The Sixth Circuit held that the CWA's permit shield protects a surface coal mining company from liability for selenium discharges. The company, which operates under a state-issued general NPDES permit, discharged selenium into surrounding water. Although the permit did not specify effluent limitatio...

A district court held BLM liable under the CWA for discharging pollutants from two of its wells into a tributary of the Arkansas River without a permit, but refused to enjoin the agency from further discharges. BLM is clearly in violation of the Act, as it failed to obtain an NPDES permit for the di...

The Sixth Circuit held that the three-year statute of limitations for contribution actions brought after an administrative settlement to perform a removal action begins running when the settlement becomes effective, not when the removal action is completed. In this case, the plaintiff—a group of P...

The Fifth Circuit held that a corporation should not be held liable as an arranger under CERCLA for costs associated with cleaning up a plume of perchloroethylene (PERC) that discharged from a dry cleaning business that operated in the 1960s and 1970s. A district court in 2006 had held the corporati...

A district court granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit against a Canadian mining company for allegedly causing individuals residing near the Upper Columbia River to suffer various health diseases due to toxic and hazardous air emissions from the company's smel...

A district court denied a swine farm's motion to strike an environmental group's request for a jury trial in their CWA and RCRA citizen suit. The group's citizen suit alleged that the farm illegally dumped swine waste onto surrounding lands and waters in violation of the two statutes. The farm argue...