The Second Circuit overturned a district court ruling that a 2008 EPA rule exempting water transfers from NPDES permitting requirements was contrary to the requirements established by the CWA. Several environmental groups brought suit against the Agency, arguing that water transfers can&nb...

A district court upheld EPA’s refusal to determine whether new water quality standards were necessary to control nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the mainstem of the Mississippi River and the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The case arose after EPA denied environmental groups' petition to make such a...

The Fourth Circuit upheld a district court's ruling that a coal company's NPDES permit did not shield it from liability under the CWA because it did not comply with the terms of the permit. In March 2013, three environmental groups filed an action against a West Virginia coal company, alleging that ...

A district court held that EPA did not fail to carry out non-discretionary duties under the CWA when it failed to notify certain industrial and commercial dischargers that they are required to obtain discharge permits under the Rhode Island Pollution Discharge Elimination System and to provide them ...

A district court held that EPA did not fail to carry out non-discretionary duties under the CWA when it failed to notify certain industrial and commercial dischargers that they are required to obtain discharge permits under the Rhode Island Pollution Discharge Elimination System and to provide them ...

A district court held the CWA's citizen suit provision does not allow for judicial review of EPA's decision to disapprove Maine's water quality standards. In 2015, EPA issued a formal decision in which it approved some of Maine’s water quality standards but disapproved three of Maine’s human hea...

A district court held that an Illinois excavation company was liable under the CWA for discharging pollutants into a river without a permit. The company discharged concrete, dirt, and other pollutants on the banks and bed of the Green River during its construction and maintenance of a levee. The com...

The Sixth Circuit, in litigation over the "waters of the United States" (WOTUS) rule, held that an internal U.S. Army Corps of Engineers memorandum critical of the rule's technical analysis may be included in the record. Petitioners argued that the litigation record omits several materials that were...

A district court held that environmental groups have standing to sue EPA under the APA and CWA for its failure to disapprove West Virginia's §303(d) list, which lacks TMDLs for waterbodies previously identified as "biologically impaired." The groups' members use some, but not all, impaired waterbod...