A district court ruled that a Virginia power plant is not liable for CWA penalties associated with its release of coal ash into nearby waters. The case concerns coal ash piles that leached arsenic and other heavy metals into groundwater that contaminated the Elizabeth River and Deep Creek. An enviro...

A district court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment in a case involving a city utility's suit against an upstream drainage district over excess nitrate pollution in the utility's water source. In a prior decision involving these two entities, the Iowa Supreme court held that drainage di...

The Fourth Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that a coal company isn't liable for claims by property owners over water disposed of in a mine beneath their property because Virginia's statute of limitations prohibited the suit. The coal company undertook “dewatering” its active mine and disposi...

The D.C. Circuit held that it lacks jurisdiction to hear a challenge to EPA's 2011 stormwater policy letters with respect to publicly owned water treatment facilities. In an 2013 decision, the Eighth Circuit vacated two EPA letters announcing new legislative rules for water treatment processes at mu...

A district court held that EPA violated a nondiscretionary duty under the CWA in not reviewing West Virginia's TMDL submissions. The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) identified ionic toxicity as a cause of biological impairment in many streams throughout the state since a...