The Fifth Circuit rejected an environmental group's challenge to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's (LDEQ's) decision to issue preconstruction permits for a liquefied natural gas export facility in Cameron Parish. The group sought to have LDEQ's decision vacated, arguing the facilit...
A district court denied the state of Florida's motion for a limited stay of the court's prior ruling vacating EPA's approval of Florida's application to assume permitting authority under §404 of the CWA. Environmental groups initially sued, arguing EPA and FWS violated the ESA because neither the p...
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the Takings Clause does not distinguish between legislative and administrative land use permit conditions, in a lawsuit concerning a traffic impact fee as a condition of building a prefabricated home on a parcel of land. The landowner challenged the fee a...
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that Texas property owners should be permitted to pursue claims under the Takings Clause through an inverse-condemnation cause of action available under Texas law. Over 120 property owners argued that a Texas highway elevation and expansion project, which buil...
A district court denied summary judgment for Native American tribes in a challenge to EPA's approval of Minnesota's 2021 revised water quality standards. The revisions replaced quantitative standards with qualitative narrative standards that describe the characteristics Minnesota waters must have to...
The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA's 2022 decision to reinstate a prior waiver of federal preemption of two California regulations concerning automobile emissions under the CAA. States and fossil fuel groups challenged the regulations—a standard limiting greenhouse gas emissions and a requirement that a ...
The D.C. Circuit, 2-1, granted in part and denied in part petitions to review EPA's SIP call for 35 states and the District of Columbia. A group of about half these states as well as companies subject to those SIPs sued, arguing EPA misinterpreted its authority under the CAA when it called for SIPs ...
A district court granted summary judgment for a conservation group in a challenge to the Natural Resource Conservation Service's (NRCS') 2020 rule regarding certification of maps delineating wetlands. The group argued NRCS changed its policy regarding pre-1996 wetland certifications without exercisi...
A district court granted in part environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to various agency actions relating to EPA's approval of the state of Florida's application to assume permitting authority under §404 of the CWA. The groups argued EPA and FWS violated the ESA because n...
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...