The Fourth Circuit reversed a district court order abstaining from ruling on constitutional claims brought by mineral interest owners challenging amendments to West Virginia's oil and gas conservation law. Plaintiffs argued the amendments, which for the first time authorized "unitization of interest...
A district court granted the state of Louisiana's request to block EPA and DOJ from imposing disparate impact mandates under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The state argued the agencies were attempting to create disparate impact mandates under Title VI by regulation without having authority to do...
The Bureau of Indian Affairs proclaimed approximately 1,483.03 acres as an addition to the reservation of Pascua Yaqui Tribe.
EPA announced a 30-day public comment period on draft updates to its Scientific Integrity Policy that will adopt a new federal definition of scientific integrity and meaningfully strengthen several policy elements to ensure a culture of scientific integrity at the Agency.
EPA announced the availability of a request for information that seeks comment to inform the design of its National Farmworker Training and Education Program.
A district court dismissed a RCRA citizen suit over a closure plan for a coal-fired power plant in Alabama. An environmental group challenged the plan, arguing it was unlawful to permanently store over 21 million tons of coal ash and toxic pollutants in the existing unlined impoundment, situated in ...
The Eighth Circuit reversed a district court ruling in a challenge to Iowa's "ag gag" law that criminalizes undercover investigations at agricultural production facilities. Initially, the law prohibited the facilities from being accessed under false pretenses as well as prohibited false statements o...
EPA entered into a proposed settlement agreement under RCRA and CERCLA with St. Croix Petrochemical Corporation (SCPC), under which SCPC would transfer its remaining assets of approximately $1.7 million to help fund remediation of contamination caused by SCPC’s former Hovensa refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
United States v. Ohio Refining Co., No. 3:24-cv-00039 (N.D. Ohio Jan. 8, 2024). Under five proposed consent decrees, settling CERCLA, CWA, and OPA defendants that released hazardous substances and oil at the Duck & Otter Creeks NRDA Site near Toledo, Ohio, must collectively pay $7,225,909 in natural resource damages (NRD) and $903,239 as reimbursement for NRD assessment costs incurred by DOI.
EPA finalized a significant new use rule for 329 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that are designated as inactive on the TSCA Chemical Substance Inventory.