A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying a petition to vacate the state wildlife board's decision to pay $9.98 million from the California Habitat Conservation Fund to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for the Battle Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project. The pe...
The California Supreme Court upheld an air district's technology-forcing rules that limit certain pollution-causing substances in paints and coatings. A paint association argued that the air district failed to show that technology necessary to meet the emissions limits set by the 2002 amendments...
The Ninth Circuit upheld the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision allowing a hydroelectric plant that operates at the Snoqualmie Falls to lower dam waters in the channel above the falls in order to mitigate upstream flooding problems while it undergoes plant upgrades and modifications. The ope...
The Montana Supreme Court upheld the state oil and gas board's issuance of 23 gas well permits to an oil company in the area known as the Cedar Creek Anticline, a major geologic feature that extends for nearly 120 miles and is home to various animal species, most notably the sage grouse. Environment...
A New York court dismissed individuals' lawsuit challenging the legality of New York's participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a regional cap-and-trade plan for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The individuals claimed they had standing because, as electric utility ratepaye...
The Fourth Circuit held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer violated NEPA when it issued a CWA §404 permit allowing a developer to build a mooring facility and boat ramp 3,000 feet from the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The Corps' EA, issued contemporaneously w...
The Third Circuit vacated as moot a lower court decision that dismissed a contractor's third-party complaint against Pennsylvania and the commonwealth's natural resources agency for cleanup costs associated with Quehanna Wild Area Nuclear Site. The contractor argued that the lower court erred by...
The Ninth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of Hawaii's regulation of commercial weddings on the state's unencumbered beaches in all respects but one. A pastor and wedding planning companies filed suit against the state's Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) alleging that its permit re...
The Michigan Supreme Court held that under the state's Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA), a municipality can be held responsible for, and required to prevent, a discharge of raw sewage that originates within its borders, even when the raw sewage is discharged by a privat...
A district court held that the CWA's waiver of sovereign immunity applies to stormwater management fees. In 2011, in response to federal agencies that had ceased paying stormwater program charges, Congress passed the "stormwater amendment" (CWA §313(c)) to clarify federal responsibility to pay ...