The court dismisses a township's and construction company's lawsuit against a city under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for failing to extend wastewater treatment services outside the city's boundary, even though the outlying area was included in the city's plan for a federally funded waste treatment pla...

A district court held that EPA's Multi-Criteria Integrated Resource (MCIR) Assessment and Enhanced Coordination (EC) Process, adopted to screen mountaintop mining permits, violates the CWA and the APA. The MCIR Assessment involves EPA applying the CWA §404(b)(1) guidelines and directing the Corps o...

A California appellate court reversed and remanded a lower court decision denying water districts' motion to amend a 1961 judgment that imposed a "physical solution" on the West Coast groundwater basin. The districts wanted to store water in underground dewatered storage spaces of the basin that...

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing individuals' claims that a city violated its NPDES permit for municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s). They alleged that the city's MS4 discharges into an estuary are causing and contributing to ongoing violations of the water...

A Maryland appellate court held that the state's general discharge permit for animal feeding operations complies with the CWA and state law. The general permit authorizes certain discharges but imposes requirements regarding the management of manure and its application as fertilizer. Environment...

The Tenth Circuit held that an Oklahoma city and a Texas city that entered into water contracts with one another lack standing to challenge Oklahoma's water appropriation permitting process as unconstitutional under the Commerce Clause. The claims at issue here are based on a substantive provisi...

A district court held that a railroad company that operates a railroad-transportation facility in Seattle, Washington, violated the terms of its NDPES permit in violation of CWA §402 and discharged pollutants into U.S. waters in violation of CWA §301. The court granted in part an environmental...

A district court held that environmental groups are entitled to injunctive relief and civil penalties in their CWA citizen suit against a coal company for violating the water quality standards for selenium set forth in its permit. Although an enforcement action was already ongoing in state court...

A district court enjoined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from continuing with its Industrial Canal Lock Replacement Project in New Orleans until it complies with NEPA and the CWA. The canal is a manmade waterway that provides access from Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway to...

The Tenth Circuit held that Oklahoma statutes that favor in-state water appropriation permit applicants over out-of-state permit applicants do not violate the Commerce Clause. The case arose after a Texas water district sought permits to appropriate water from Oklahoma for use in Texas. Because Okla...