A Georgia appellate court held that the 25-foot buffer requirement set forth in Georgia’s Erosion and Sedimentation Act applies to all state waters and wetlands, not just those with vegetation wrested by normal stream flow or wave action. The case arose after environmental groups challenged a buff...
A district court held that a mining company allowed excessive amounts of selenium to be discharged from one of its surface coal mine operations in violation of the CWA and SMCRA. The company's state permit does not explicitly impose selenium limitations, but it does incorporate by reference state re...
The Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' jurisdictional determination (JD) that a proposed landfill site contains wetlands subject to regulation under the CWA. The lower court ruled that the JD is not a “final agency action” an...
The South Carolina Supreme Court held that the operator of a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility failed to comply with state groundwater protection regulations and must therefore submit a written plan for compliance or face potential revocation of its operating license. The operator first ...
A California court held that the public trust doctrine protects navigable waterways from harm caused by groundwater extraction. Concerned about the management of the Scott River in northern California, environmental groups filed suit against Siskiyou County, claiming the county must consider the pub...
The Supreme Court of Iowa held that an Iowan who works for an environmental nonprofit group may sit on the state's Environmental Protection Commission and may vote to adopt rules which she actively supports both professionally and personally. The case arose after the commission adopted new water ant...
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying an environmental group's motion to intervene in a poultry farmer's lawsuit against EPA. In that case, the farmer seeks a declaratory judgment that farmyard stormwater runoff is statutorily exempt from regulation as an agricultural stormwater...
A district court upheld a CWA §404 permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the construction of a large marine transfer station near the upper east side of New York City. A group of residents filed suit challenging the permit, claiming that the Corps' issuance of the permit was arbitra...
An Illinois appellate court upheld a state plan requiring state utilities to purchase power from a coal-fueled, near-zero emissions electric power plant. State utilities challenged the plan, arguing that the Illinois Power Agency has no power to propose, and the Illinois Commerce Commission has no p...
A New York court dismissed mineral rights owners' lawsuit seeking to compel the state to finalize its supplemental EIS on hydraulic fracturing. The owners filed the lawsuit under the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), claiming that the state's failure to finalize the standards for high-...