A district court dismissed environmentalists' claim that EPA should have reviewed the entirety of Florida's impaired water rule (IWR), not just the portion that constitutes a new or revised water quality standard. States retain discretion to enact and to enforce—without EPA’s review and approval...

The Eleventh Circuit remanded the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' conclusion that Nationwide Permit 21 (NWP 21), a general permit that allows surface coal mining operations to discharge dredged or fill materials into navigable waters, would have no more than minimal environmental effects under NEPA an...

The Third Circuit upheld a lower court decision dismissing, on standing grounds, a doctor's claim challenging the constitutionality of a Pennsylvania law that limits a doctor's ability to obtain information about the mixture of chemical fluids used during hydraulic fracturing when treating patients ...

A Massachusetts court dismissed residents' lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that the state's environmental agency failed to comply with §3(d) of the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA). The GWSA is a legislative scheme designed to address the effects of climate change in Massachusetts by prom...

A district court held that although EPA did not violate its nondiscretionary duty under the CWA to either approve or disapprove a TMDL for PCBs in the state of Washington, it acted contrary to law in determining that a "Regional Toxics Task Force" was a suitable alternative. Environmental groups fil...

The Fourth Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed a lower court decision upholding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' conclusion that it has jurisdiction over wetlands on a developer's property. The developer wanted to fill 4.8 acres of wetlands in order to build 10 homes. The wetlands are loca...

An Ohio court struck down a city's ban on drilling new oil and gas wells within its jurisdiction. On the one hand, the ban is a clear exercise of the city's police power; by attempting to ban oil and gas drilling, the city is trying to protect the public health and general welfare. But the ban is in...

An Arizona court overturned the state's issuance of an air permit for a proposed open-pit copper mine. An environmental group argued that the state's approval of the permit was arbitrary and capricious because the mine has the potential to violate NAAQS. They also claimed that the mine's modeling re...