A district court dismissed as time barred environmental groups' CWA and APA claims challenging EPA's list of dispersants and other projects that may be used in the event of an oil spill. The groups asserted that the list, called the NCP Product Schedule, fails to specify the waters or quantities in ...

A district court denied EPA's motion to dismiss a poultry farmer's lawsuit against the Agency seeking a declaratory judgment that farmyard stormwater runoff is statutorily exempt from regulation as an agricultural stormwater discharge. In 2011, EPA issued a compliance order to the farmer requiring h...

The D.C. Circuit upheld a consent decree that established a schedule for EPA to initiate notice-and-comment rulemaking and make a formal decision whether to promulgate a new rule revising certain effluent limitations and effluent limitations guidelines under the CWA. Below, an association of energy ...

The Sixth Circuit struck down the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' reissuance of nationwide permit 21, which authorizes surface coal mining operations to discharge dredged and fill material into waters of the United States. An environmental group challenged the permit, alleging that the cumulative-impa...

The D.C. Circuit reversed a lower court decision that EPA exceeded its authority under CWA §404(c) when it invalidated an existing U.S. Army Corps of Engineer permit authorizing a mining company to discharge fill material from its mountaintop coal mine into two nearby streams. In its post-perm...

A California court held that San Diego County's climate action plan violates the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and must be set aside. The plan should have been the subject of a supplemental environmental impact report (EIR) under CEQA instead of an addendum to the county's existing Pro...