Garrison v. New Fashion Pork LLP
The Iowa Supreme Court, 4-3, affirmed a summary judgment order dismissing a landowner's nuisance, trespass, and drainage claims against a neighboring confined animal feeding operation (CAFO). The neighboring CAFO moved for summary judgment based on the statutory immunity enacted in Iowa's "right-to-...
West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Supreme Court held, 6-3, that President Barack Obama's EPA had exceeded its statutory authority under §111(d) of the CAA when it promulgated the Clean Power Plan to address carbon dioxide pollution from existing power plants. States and coal companies had petitioned for review of the plan,...
Save the Scenic Santa Ritas v. United States Army Corps of Engineers
A district court granted a developer's motion to dismiss a challenge to the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue a CWA §404 permit for a proposed copper mine project in the Santa Rita Mountains. Environmental groups and Native American tribes argued that the Corps violated the CWA and NEPA wh...
State Citizen Suits, Standing, and the Underutilization of State Environmental Law
This Article explores the relationship between state environmental citizen suit provisions and judicial standing requirements, and analyzes whether the introduction of citizen suits into state statutory law inspired increasingly strict state standing requirements, as occurred at the federal level. Specifically, it identifies how state judiciaries have interpreted standing and aggrievement in response to general, non-media-specific citizen suit provisions, both in the common law and in administrative law.