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 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 Fifth Circuit dismissed environmental groups' petitions challenging DOI's approval of 16 oil well exploration and development plans that were issued between March 29 and May 20, 2010, under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA). The groups argued that the agency failed to consider th...

The D.C. Circuit held unripe an oil and natural gas association's petition for review challenging a 2008 EPA regulation deregulating many hazardous secondary materials under RCRA. The association argued that EPA erred in not including in the deregulation a category of hazardous secondary materia...

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 ...

A district court dismissed California's suit against DOI challenging its approval of the Colorado River Water Delivery Agreement under NEPA and the CAA. The state alleged that DOI failed to comply with the two statutes prior to approving it and sought an order immediately ceasing water deliverie...

A district court remanded to EPA its determination that several provisions of Florida's "impaired water rule" are not new or revised water quality standards and, thus, not subject to approval by the Agency. An environmental group argued that EPA's decision was arbitrary and capricious. In order ...

A district court held that a local sanitation department that owns and operates a complex sanitary sewer conveyance system and 13 wastewater treatment plants must pay penalties for the unintended discharge of sewage following heavy rainfall in the spring of 2010. The department previously entere...

The Eleventh Circuit upheld a restaurant manager's conviction for conspiring to illegally dump restaurant grease into U.S. waters in violation of the CWA. The evidence was easily sufficient to sustain a finding that he conspired to intentionally violate the CWA. He was the supervisor of four res...