A district court held that environmental groups may go forward with their CWA lawsuit against a rail carrier for allowing coal dust from open-top rail cars to be released into U.S. waterways. At issue was whether coal dust from rail cars that falls onto land, rather than directly into the waters, of...

A district court held a mining company liable under SMCRA and the CWA for discharging excessive amounts of selenium into the waters of West Virginia. The company argued that the CWA's permit shield defense protected it from liability because selenium was not a pollutant whose discharge was limited u...

The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not violate the CWA or NEPA when it issued a dredge and fill permit necessary for a mineral sands mining project near Coos Bay, Oregon. An environmental group argued that the Corps should have prepared an EIS, rather than an EA and FON...

The North Dakota Supreme Court held that the state owns the mineral interests under the shore zone of the Missouri River, which cuts through the oil-rich Bakken Shale region. Under the equal footing doctrine, the state's title to the beds of navigable waters extends from high watermark to high water...

A district court held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could exercise jurisdiction under the CWA over wetlands contained in a developer's proposed residential site. The developer had initially asked the court to enter declaratory judgment that the wetlands were not subject to federal jurisdicti...

A district court dismissed environmental groups' lawsuit challenging EPA's "authorization" of pollution trading and offsets outlined in its 2010 TMDL for the Chesapeake Bay. The groups wanted statements about offsets and trading in the Bay TMDL to be declared null and void. But the groups lack stand...

A California appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, upheld San Francisco's ban on the use of plastic "checkout bags" by retail establishments in the city and county. A group of plastic bag manufacturers and distributors filed suit, arguing that the ban violates the California Environmental Qual...

A federal bankruptcy court held that a petroleum company and its subsidiaries may be held liable for at least $5 billion—and perhaps up to $14 billion—in environmental response costs and tort liabilities. In 2005, a now-bankrupt manufacturing company that makes titanium dioxide pigments was tran...

Pennsylvania's highest court struck down Act 13, which pertains to oil and gas operations in the Marcellus Shale, as unconstitutional. The Act repealed Pennsylvania’s Oil and Gas Act and replaced it with a codified statutory framework regulating oil and gas operations in the Commonwealth. Among ot...