The First Circuit vacated a district court order staying a CWA and RCRA citizen suit brought against an oil company. An environmental group argued, among other things, that the company had violated CWA and RCRA by failing to account for climate change factors at its petroleum storage and distributio...
The Tenth Circuit reversed dismissal of a lawsuit concerning a New Mexico city's imposition of fees on residents who generate their own electricity via solar panels. The residents and an advocacy group argued the city's fees amounted to price discrimination in violation of FERC rules. The district c...
The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of a CWA citizen suit brought against the owner of a coal-fired power plant in Illinois. An environmental group argued the owner violated the CWA by discharging coal ash pollutants from its plant into groundwater that in turn entered the Middle Fork of the Verm...
A district court granted partial summary judgment in a CWA citizen suit brought against the owner of a mine in Washington. The state of Washington and an environmental group argued the mine owner had violated various terms of its NPDES permit. The owner asserted the claims were barred because there ...
The U.S. Supreme Court held, 6-3, that a small refinery that previously received a hardship exemption from renewable fuel requirements may obtain an "extension" even if it saw a lapse in exemption coverage in a previous year. A group of renewable fuel producers had petitioned for review of EPA's gra...
A district court granted a conservation group's motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit concerning a California resident's recreational gold mining in a river in Idaho. The group argued the defendant violated the CWA by suction dredge mining during the 2014, 2015, and 2018 dredging seasons without ...
The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, affirmed in part and reversed in part dismissal of a challenge to EPA's withdrawal of a previously proposed determination restricting mining operations in part of southwest Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed. A conservation group had argued the withdrawal violated the CWA and EPA...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed a nonprofit group's petition to review DOE's rule concerning the designation of critical electric infrastructure information. The group argued the rule exceeded DOE's authority under §215A of the Federal Power Act, was arbitrary and capricious, and was promulgated in viol...
In an unpublished opinion, the Fourth Circuit upheld the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to grant Maryland a CWA §404 permit for a mass transportation project. An environmental group and state residents argued that the Corps granted the permit without considering alternatives other than the optio...
The Tenth Circuit denied a company's petition to review an Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) decision denying its petition to review a 2017 permit issued by EPA to an upstream wastewater treatment plant. In its petition, the company argued the permit constituted backsliding under the CWA, particular...