A district court issued its findings of fact and conclusions of law regarding phase one of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill trial, holding various companies liable for the spill. In the 150+-page opinion, the court determined that BP Exploration & Production, Inc., is subject to enhanced civil pe...
A district court upheld a dredge-and-fill permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued to a mining company allowing it to conduct surface coal mining activities at a proposed 725-acre site in Boone County, West Virginia. Environmental groups challenged the permit, arguing that the Corps failed to ...
The Eighth Circuit upheld an EPA decision rejecting modifications to Arkansas' water quality standards as they pertain to discharges of dissolved minerals from a chemical manufacturing plant. Arkansas adopted the revisions after the plant initiated a third party rulemaking to increase the levels of ...
The Tenth Circuit held that an energy company may cross private property in order to develop new oil well sites under the property owner's surface estate as well as to access one of its existing wells located on adjacent BLM property. The only way to access the well on the BLM property is via a road...
A Michigan appellate court upheld the state environmental agency's decision to grant a groundwater discharge permit to a company in connection with its plan to develop an underground mine to extract nickel and copper from the sulfide ores beneath the headwaters of the Salmon Trout River. The permit,...
A Michigan appellate court upheld the state environmental agency's decision to grant mining and discharge permits to a company to develop an underground mine to extract nickel and copper from the sulfide ores beneath the headwaters of the Salmon Trout River. Environmental groups opposed the permits,...
A district court upheld a jury verdict that a Wyoming farmer who discharged material into a creek on his property without a permit was exempt from the CWA's permitting requirements. Below, the jury found in the farmer's activities fell under the CWA's "normal farming and ranching activities" exempti...