A district court dismissed a challenge to a pipeline company's failure to seek a CWA permit for construction of a natural gas pipeline in Pennsylvania. A conservation group argued the company violated the CWA by failing to obtain an NPDES permit for its stormwater discharges after construction began...

A district court dismissed with leave to amend a class-action challenge to a medical device company for selling talcum products in California. Plaintiffs argued the company violated California consumer protection laws by failing to warn them of carcinogenic ingredients in their products and engaging...

A district court dismissed a challenge to EPA's decision to withdraw proposed restrictions pursuant to CWA §404(c) for the proposed Pebble Mine in Southwest Alaska. Nonprofit groups argued the decision was arbitrary and capricious, in violation of the APA. EPA argued the exercise of its authority u...

The Ninth Circuit ordered EPA to respond to a petition requesting that the Agency end the use of the pesticide tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP) in household pet products. An environmental group submitted an administrative petition to cancel the registration of TCVP in 2009, following a peer-reviewed study t...

The U.S. Supreme Court held, 6-3, that the "functional equivalent of a direct discharge" of pollutants requires a CWA permit, and remanded for consideration of whether a discharge of pollutants into groundwater that later discharged into the Pacific Ocean meets this standard. Environmental groups ar...

A district court upheld a CWA §404 permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted to authorize the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) to discharge dredge-and-fill materials into nearby waters during construction of a light rail project, known as the Purple Line project, that would connect subur...

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld an appellate court ruling that an oil refining company was responsible for $140 million in damages from a 2004 oil spill in the Delaware River. The owner of the vessel involved in the spill argued that the company it chartered to deliver crude oil from Venezuela to the ...

A district court denied summary judgment to environmental groups in a challenge to the U.S. Coast Guard's approval of a contingency plan for a Michigan oil pipeline. The groups argued that the plan failed to respond to a worst-case discharge, as required by the OPA, by failing to consider the need f...