A district court granted EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers' motion to voluntarily remand the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, and granted the Navajo Nation's request that remand include vacatur. The court found the agencies' own findings demonstrated that "allowing the Rule to remain in place upo...

The Ninth Circuit vacated an NPDES permit issued by EPA for concentrated animal feeding operations in Idaho. Environmental groups argued the permit lacked sufficient monitoring provisions to ensure compliance with its "zero discharge" requirements for production and land-application areas. The court...

The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, vacated and remanded a district court ruling in a CWA citizen suit concerning a clay manufacturer's discharges. Environmental groups argued the manufacturer illegally discharged pollutants into navigable waters, failed to monitor the discharge as required by its NPDES permit,...

A Minnesota appellate court affirmed the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's (MPCA's) decision to issue a CWA §401 certification for the Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement project. Native American tribes and environmental groups challenged the decision, arguing the MPCA failed to consider alter...

A district court vacated and remanded EPA's and the Army Corps of Engineers' Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which established a new definition of "waters of the United States" under the CWA. EPA and the Corps sought voluntary remand of the rule without vacatur to give them time to revise or repla...

The Ninth Circuit granted in part and denied in part a petition to review EPA's final rule approving California's SIP for meeting the air quality standard for ozone in the San Joaquin Valley. An environmental group argued the SIP's contingency measure was inadequate because it provided only a nomina...

The D.C. Circuit denied a challenge to EPA's 2015 rule updating the standards under which the Agency audits wood-burning heaters' compliance with CAA emissions limits. An industry group argued the rule was invalid because, unlike the 1988 rule, it authorized testing at other labs and neither account...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for EPA in a challenge to a compliance order stating that landowners' property in Idaho contained wetlands subject to CWA protection and directing them to remove fill and restore the property to its natural state. The appellate court concluded that EPA rea...

The Eighth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court ruling in an ongoing enforcement suit concerning air pollution at a utility company's coal-fired power plant in Missouri. EPA argued the company violated the CAA, Missouri's SIP, and its Title V permit by performing modificati...

A district court granted summary judgment for an environmental group in a challenge to EPA's regulations for oil spill dispersants. The group argued that EPA violated the CWA by failing to issue a final rule updating the NCP for addressing oil spills in light of new information showing the chemicals...