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...

A district court granted summary judgment for 21 states in a challenge to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA's) rule requiring each state to set declining targets for tailpipe carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from vehicles on the National Highway System. The states argued requiring automobile ...

A district court granted summary judgment for the state of Texas in a challenge to the Federal Highway Administration's (FHwA's) 2023 rule requiring states to measure, report, and set declining targets for the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by vehicles using the interstate and national highway sys...

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 Tenth Circuit, 2-1, affirmed in part and reversed in part summary judgment for an oil and gas company in a lawsuit brought by a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. The ranch brought several tort claims, arguing the company's pipeline leaked and contaminated its property. A district court concluded the con...

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...