The Fourth Circuit granted a pipeline company's petition to review the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality's (NCDEQ's) denial of a CWA §401 certification for construction of a natural gas pipeline. The company argued the denial was arbitrary and capricious because NCDEQ did not compl...
The Tenth Circuit reversed and vacated a district court order preliminarily enjoining EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers from implementing the 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR) in Colorado. Colorado argued the agencies violated the APA because the NWPR was not in accordance with the law,...
The D.C. Circuit denied petitions to review three FERC orders concerning cost sharing for certain upgrades to the Mid-Atlantic electricity transmission grid. Petitioners argued the Commission departed from precedent without adequate explanation, made findings that were not supported by substantial e...
The Montana Supreme Court reversed, 5-2, a lower court decision reversing the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation's (DNRC's) issuance of a beneficial water use permit for a proposed silver and copper mine beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. The mining company and DNRC appe...
The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court order staying state law claims in a lawsuit concerning the California Water Resources Board's amendments to its water quality control plan for the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta system. The U.S. government brought the suit, arguing the ...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part a district court's dismissal of a county's complaint in long-standing litigation over appropriation of water in the Walker River Basin. The county argued the public interest and maintenance of the public trust required that water flows reach Wal...
The U.S. Supreme Court denied, 8-0, Texas' motion to review a river master's final determination in a long-running dispute over how Texas and New Mexico share water. Texas challenged the river master's determination that New Mexico was entitled to delivery credit for water that evaporated while it w...
The Fourth Circuit stayed a pipeline company's use of a nationwide permit, verified by the Army Corps of Engineers, to carry out construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in streams and rivers along the pipeline's route. Environmental groups argued the verification was unlawful because the Corps ...
The Montana Supreme Court affirmed vacatur of a Montana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (MPDES) permit issued by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for a copper and silver mine in the Cabinet Mountains. Environmental groups argued, among other things, that MDEQ unlawfully ...
A district court denied mine owners' motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging they were in violation of their NPDES permit. A conservation group and the state of Washington argued that the owners had violated the terms of their permit by discharging pollutants in excess of average monthly effluent limit...