The Fifth Circuit upheld a 2017 EPA rule that postponed compliance dates mandated by the Agency's 2015 rule setting new effluent limitation guidelines for flue gas desulfurization wastewater and bottom ash transport water from steam electric power plants. Environmental groups argued the 2017 rule ef...
A state high court upheld the Nebraska Public Service Commission's determination that approval of an alternative route for a proposed oil pipeline was in the public interest. Landowners and Native American tribes argued the Commission lacked jurisdiction under the state's Major Oil Pipeline Siting A...
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit reversed the denial of an environmental group's motion to intervene in a lawsuit challenging EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 2015 Clean Water Rule. The court found that the group had a practical interest in the rule and that this interest was no...
A district court granted a motion for summary judgment in a challenge to EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 2015 Clean Water Rule. States and industry groups argued the rule violated the CWA by extending the agencies' jurisdiction beyond the limits of the Act. The court determined that the ru...
A district court vacated TMDLs that were established by the District of Columbia for E. Coli bacteria in portions of the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers and approved by EPA in 2014. Environmental groups challenged EPA's approval, arguing the Agency failed to set true maximum daily loads of E. Coli disc...
A district court denied a motion for summary judgment in a challenge to the U.S. Forest Service's cattle grazing program for three livestock allotments in Stanislaus National Forest. Environmental groups argued the program caused violations of water quality standards for fecal coliform bacteria and ...
The D.C. Circuit granted in part petitions to vacate a portion of a Federal Communications Commission order that exempted most small cell construction from review under the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and NEPA. Native American tribes and an environmental group argued that eliminating h...
The D.C. Circuit upheld FERC's approval of a natural gas pipeline that would run from northern Pennsylvania to Alabama. Environmental groups and landowners argued that FERC violated NEPA by failing to factor downstream greenhouse gas emissions into its evaluation of the project's environmental impac...