The Sixth Circuit dismissed individuals' CWA citizen suit against the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) for issuing NPDES permits for animal feeding operations without first obtaining approval from EPA. States must notify EPA if they intend to transfer authority over part of the EPA-approved stat...

The California Supreme Court held that agencies subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) generally are not required to analyze the impact of existing environmental conditions on a project's future users or residents. But when a proposed project risks exacerbating those environmenta...

The Eleventh Circuit denied environmental groups' lawsuit challenging EPA's interim decision not to revoke Alabama's NPDES permitting authority. Alleging 26 program deficiencies, the groups petitioned EPA to begin proceedings to withdraw Alabama's authority to administer the NPDES program. EPA issue...

A California appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, held that the California Department of Food and Agriculture's environmental impact report (EIR) for a seven-year program to control the light brown apple moth, an invasive pest, violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The age...

A district court granted in part and denied in part cross-motions for summary judgment in a CWA citizen suit alleging a cruise ship terminal and port discharged industrial stormwater runoff and other pollutants into U.S. waters without a NPDES permit. The environmental group that initiated the lawsu...

A district court held a petroleum company liable for $159.5 million in civil penalties under the CWA in connection with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. The court applied each of the CWA’s eight civil penalty factors in reaching its conclusion, with "seriousness" and "culpability" being the mo...

A district court dismissed a uranium company's lawsuit that the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) preempts a Virginia law that prohibits any state agency from accepting applications for a permit to mine uranium. The company filed suit against the governor, two cabinet members, and various officials affiliated...

A district court denied DOI's motion to dismiss an environmental group's lawsuit challenging OSM's determination that a surface mining permit could not be automatically terminated without first providing notice to the permit holder. SMCRA provides that certain mining permits will be terminated if th...