The Federal Circuit reversed a Court of Federal Claims ruling that the U.S. government was not liable for the flooding of homes near two Houston dams managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during Hurricane Harvey. Property owners downstream of the Addicks and Barker Dams argued that the governm...

The Massachusetts Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's denial of an oil and gas company's motion to dismiss a civil enforcement action brought by the Massachusetts attorney general (AG) based on the company's communications with investors and consumers concerning the impact of climate change. The ...

A district court granted a developer's motion to dismiss a challenge to the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue a CWA §404 permit for a proposed copper mine project in the Santa Rita Mountains. Environmental groups and Native American tribes argued that the Corps violated the CWA and NEPA wh...

The Tenth Circuit reversed a district court's denial of a motion to dismiss a CWA citizen suit concerning the release of contaminated water from an inactive gold mine in Colorado. Nearby farmers filed suit in a New Mexico district court, alleging several state-law claims. A hazardous waste managemen...

The Tenth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit concerning a long-running water dispute between an Indian tribe and a private landowner in Utah. The tribe sued the landowner in tribal court, arguing the landowner had been diverting the tribe's water for years. The tribal court held it had subject ...

In an en banc decision, the First Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part summary judgment for an environmental group in a CWA citizen suit against developers of a construction site in Massachusetts. The group argued the developers violated the CWA by failing to comply with the construction ge...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court's denial of summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to the Forest Service's allowance of livestock grazing in the Stanislaus National Forest. The groups argued the grazing led to fecal matter runoff that polluted streams in the area, impai...

The U.S. Supreme Court, 5-4, granted states' and industry groups' application for an emergency stay of a district court ruling that had vacated the 2020 Clean Water Act 401 Certification Rule. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Kagan asserted the states and groups had failed to show they would suffer ...

A district court dismissed as moot a challenge to EPA's and the Army Corps of Engineers' 2015 Clean Water Rule interpreting the phrase "waters of the United States." Ohio and Tennessee argued the 2015 rule improperly expanded the definition of "waters of the United States," giving the agencies the p...

The Eleventh Circuit vacated a district court's dismissal of a challenge to a developer's filling of a wetland near its hotel in southeastern Georgia. An individual and environmental groups argued the developer did not comply with the CWA's permitting process because it filled the wetland for the pu...