The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's order granting voluntary remand and vacating EPA's 2020 CWA Section 401 Certification Rule. States, environmental groups, and tribes challenged the rule, arguing it unlawfully restricted states' and tribes' ability to reject water pollution projects. Bef...

The D.C. Circuit, 2-1, denied electric utility companies' challenge to FERC's order granting a solar company's application for certification of its solar array and battery storage facility in Montana as a qualifying facility under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). The companies arg...

A district court granted summary judgment for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in a challenge to its long-term contracts with local power companies. Conservation groups argued that the 20-year contracts, which contained automatic renewal provisions and flexibility provisions allowing the compani...

The Sixth Circuit reversed a district court's denial of a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit concerning a Kentucky law that offsets the state's severance tax on coal. A coal producer from Illinois, where there is no severance tax, argued the law discriminated against out-of-state coal in violation ...

A district court adopted a magistrate judge's recommendation to deny summary judgment for an environmental group in a lawsuit concerning the Army Corps of Engineers' issuance of a CWA §404 permit for a roadway expansion project in Florida. The group argued the Corps violated the CWA by failing to r...

The Fifth Circuit ordered FERC to provide a meaningful explanation for the length of time it takes for final action in Federal Power Act §206 complaint proceedings, in a lawsuit concerning complaints that have gone four to six years without resolution. The Louisiana Public Service Commission petiti...

The D.C. Circuit granted EPA's motion to dismiss an industry group's challenge to interim lifetime health advisories for two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water. The court found that the group identified alleged harm facing an indirect subsidiary of one of its members, but failed t...

The Tenth Circuit upheld a joint resolution passed by Congress and signed by President Trump that disapproved the Stream Protection Rule, which was adopted by DOI under the Obama Administration. Nonprofit groups argued that the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which Congress used to repeal the rule, ...

The Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court's remand to state court of a lawsuit concerning dredging operations in a ship channel near Corpus Christi. The port authority sued a dredging company in state court, alleging that the company's operations resulted in physical trespass and encroachments on ...

A district court granted a company's motion to preliminarily enjoin a Louisiana parish from enforcing a 12-month moratorium on activities related to well drilling on parish land. The company moved for an injunction prohibiting enforcement of the moratorium insofar as it banned seismic surveys, Class...