The Second Circuit affirmed a lower court decision finding oil companies liable for contaminating New York City wells with methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and awarding a $104.69 million judgment in favor of the city. A jury had found the companies liable under New York tort law for contaminating ...
The Seventh Circuit upheld a dredge and fill permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a highway project that crosses wetlands in Indiana. The Corps adequately considered practicable alternatives when it issued the permit. Although the Corps has an independent responsibility to enforce t...
The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision dismissing a conservation group's CWA citizen suit alleging that a scrap metal company violated California's general NPDES permit for industrial stormwater at three of its scrap recycling facilities. The lower court dismissed the case, holding that C...
A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service complied with NEPA when it promulgated the land and resource management plan (LRMP) for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in Montana. The forest, the state's largest, covers 3.35 million acres and stretches over eight counties in southwestern...
A D.C. court held that a climate scientist may go forward with his defamation suit against a conservative publication and think tank. The publication and think tank had commented that the scientist engaged in "data manipulation," was the man behind the "fraudulent climate-change 'hockey stick' graph...
A district court upheld an SEC rule imposing certain disclosure requirements for companies that use "conflict minerals" originating in and around the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Manufacturing groups argued that the rule's requirement that companies publish their conflict minerals disclosures o...
The D.C. Circuit ordered the Maryland Department of Environment to act on a natural gas company's application to construct a natural gas compressor station in the state. The company applied for and received a certificate of public convenience and necessity from FERC. But before it can begin construc...
The D.C. Circuit denied states' and industry groups' petitions challenging EPA rules establishing CAA permitting requirements in states that do not have implementation plans for greenhouse gases. The rules were designed to ensure that a permitting authority was available to issue the required greenh...
A California appellate court held that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) violated the California APA and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it adopted its Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS) regulations to reduce the carbon content of transportation fuels sold, supplied, or of...
The Third Circuit upheld an EPA rule imposing sulfur dioxide (S02) limits on a coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania whose emissions travel directly across a river into areas of New Jersey. The owner of the plant challenged EPA's authority to impose direct regulations on the plant before the time t...