A California appellate court upheld a regional water board's approval of a NPDES permit to build a desalination facility on the coast of Carlsbad, California. An environmental group argued that the board improperly required the facility to restore wetlands in lieu of implementing site, design and te...
A district court ordered BLM to revise the Craters of the Moon and Pinedale resource management plans (RMPs) to correct deficiencies concerning impacts on the sage-grouse. In an earlier decision, the court held that BLM's EISs for the RMPs failed to adequately analyze impacts to the sage grouse in v...
A Minnesota appellate court held that the state environmental agency did not err in certifying under CWA §401 EPA's proposed NPDES vessel general permit, which allows shipping vessels in Lake Superior to discharge ballast water in state waters. Nonprofit groups argued that the agency applied an inc...
South Carolina's highest court held that the state's environmental agency violated state law when it negotiated an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Georgia Ports Authority before issuing a CWA §401 water quality certificate for a proposed expansion project for Savannah Harbor...
A California appellate court upheld a local water board's $250,000 administrative civil liability order issued against a developer for CWA permit violations. The board issued the order after concluding that the developer discharged sediment-laden waters into ephemeral drainages adjacent to a constru...
The Eleventh Circuit held it lacked jurisdiction over several petitions for review of an EPA decision that allows a water district to transfer water from the polluted canals of the Everglades Agricultural Area into Lake Okeechobee without a CWA discharge permit. CWA §509(b)(1)(E) grants original ju...
The U.S. Supreme Court vacates and remands for further proceeding two Sixth Circuit opinions holding that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) had jurisdiction over state wetlands adjacent to a tributary of traditional navigable waters but separated by a berm, and wetlands lying near ditches...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying an environmental group attorney fees after it successfully challenged BLM's post-fire grazing decisions and authorizations in the Jarbridge Resource Area in Idaho. In 2004, an environmental group filed suit against BLM challenging its renewal...
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...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing gold miners' suit against the U.S. Forest Service challenging its decision to limit the use of motor vehicles to certain roads in the El Dorado National Forest. The miners have standing to pursue their claim. At least some of the miners ha...