The Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing an environmental group's lawsuit challenging the OSM's approval of two amendments to West Virginia's surface coal mining regulations. One amendment repeals the definition of "cumulative impact" in the state's cumulative hydrologic imp...

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The D.C. Circuit held that a home builders association lacked standing to challenge the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' issuance of nationwide permit (NWP) 46, which allows persons to secure approval for qualifying discharges into "waters of the United States" without going through the more laborious ...

The D.C. Circuit held that a home builders' association lacked standing to challenge EPA's and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' determination that two reaches of the Santa Cruz River in southern Arizona constitute "traditional navigable waters" (TNW) under the CWA. Although the association has spen...

The court affirms in part and reverses in part a district court decision upholding U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) regulations that govern damage to land, structures, and certain water supplies caused by mining subsidence. The court first holds that a regulation establishing a rebuttable presu...

The court affirms the dismissal of a land trust's action alleging that a coal company that owned the mineral rights to a tract of the trust's land violated the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) and other federal and state laws. The trust alleged that the company's failure to comply ...

The court holds that a district court did not have jurisdiction to review a dispute about language in a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) consent decree approving a proposed cleanup plan. The plan was proposed by a company that abandoned an acrosol can facility following an explosion and a ...

The court denies a petition to review the Bonneville Power Administration's (BPA's) record of decision (ROD) regarding the operations of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS). The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) concluded that under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), continued oper...

The court holds that a state's failure to seek rehearing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) order on remand in a case involving a hydroelectric power license application deprives the court of jurisdiction. After denying the state's initial motions for rehearing, FERC filed an uno...