A New York court struck down a city's local ordinance that placed a two-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing within its borders. The city argued that it issued the ordinance under its local police powers and that it was therefore not required to refer the law to the county planning board prior to...
A district court dismissed environmental groups' CWA suit against a coal mine for new source performance standard violations. Because the groups filed suit just 11 days after sending the mine its notice of violation, the mine claimed that the groups failed to comply with the 60-day notice requiremen...
A district court upheld the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue a CWA §404 permit to a mining company for the construction of a valley fill and sediment pond in conjunction with the Reylas Surface Mine in West Virginia. The Corps' adoption of a compensatory mitigation plan that will rep...
The Ninth Circuit upheld an EPA Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) order denying a native village's petition for review of an NPDES permit authorizing the discharge of wastewater from an Alaskan lead and zinc mine. The village failed to demonstrate why EPA's responses to comments were clearly erroneo...
A district court held that EPA overstepped its statutory authority under the CWA and SMCRA when it issued guidance on Appalachian surface coal mining permits. EPA argued that the guidance was not final agency action and, thus, not subject to judicial review. But the court disagreed, holding that the...
A district court denied environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin the construction of segments of the Keystone XL pipeline. After an oil company's original request to complete the Keystone XL pipeline was denied by President Obama in 2011, the company sought to divide its original interco...
The First Circuit denied a petition challenging an EPA NPDES permit setting forth discharge limits for nitrogen, phosphorous, and aluminum for a large sewage treatment plant along the Blackstone River in Massachusetts. A water district that operates the treatment plant argued that EPA should have wa...
A New Jersey appellate court held that a town that acquired property containing a former landfill in an eminent domain action cannot require part of the condemnation award to be set aside for remediation purposes. The state's highest court has previously held that contaminated property acquired in a...