A district court dismissed environmental groups' CWA suit against a coal mine for new source performance standard violations. Because the groups filed suit just 11 days after sending the mine its notice of violation, the mine claimed that the groups failed to comply with the 60-day notice requiremen...
A district court upheld the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue a CWA §404 permit to a mining company for the construction of a valley fill and sediment pond in conjunction with the Reylas Surface Mine in West Virginia. The Corps' adoption of a compensatory mitigation plan that will rep...
The Tenth Circuit dismissed as moot an environmental group's CAA citizen suit against an energy company for building a new coal-fired power plant in Pueblo, Colorado, without a valid construction permit. Although the project initially complied with all applicable federal and state laws when construc...
The Ninth Circuit upheld an EPA Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) order denying a native village's petition for review of an NPDES permit authorizing the discharge of wastewater from an Alaskan lead and zinc mine. The village failed to demonstrate why EPA's responses to comments were clearly erroneo...
A district court held that EPA overstepped its statutory authority under the CWA and SMCRA when it issued guidance on Appalachian surface coal mining permits. EPA argued that the guidance was not final agency action and, thus, not subject to judicial review. But the court disagreed, holding that the...
A district court dismissed environmental groups' lawsuits challenging BLM's decision to authorize the leasing of certain public lands in northeastern Wyoming for coal mining operations. The groups, who claim that BLM failed to prepare an adequate EIS before authorizing the leasing of the tracts at i...
A district court denied environmental groups' motion to preliminarily enjoin the construction of segments of the Keystone XL pipeline. After an oil company's original request to complete the Keystone XL pipeline was denied by President Obama in 2011, the company sought to divide its original interco...
The First Circuit denied a petition challenging an EPA NPDES permit setting forth discharge limits for nitrogen, phosphorous, and aluminum for a large sewage treatment plant along the Blackstone River in Massachusetts. A water district that operates the treatment plant argued that EPA should have wa...
A district court ordered a mining company to comply with the CWA by October 31, 2012, and to pay over $2 million in penalties for CWA violations in Montezuma Creek, a tributary of the Middle Fork Boise River near Atlanta, Idaho. Environmental groups filed suit against the company for discharging wa...
The Third Circuit held that a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers complied with NEPA, the CWA, and the CZMA in its decision to deepen the main channel of the Delaware River by five feet. The Corps' 2009 EA was neither arbitrary nor capricious. The Corps complied with the procedural requirements prescribed ...