The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court decision upholding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' issuance of four CWA §404 permits to a fertilizer manufacturer engaged in phosphate mining in Florida. The district court found nothing arbitrary or capricious about the Corps’ determination that p...

The Tenth Circuit denied a motion to hold in abeyance a lawsuit concerning EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 2015 Clean Water Rule. It did decide, however, to consider whether to dismiss the case in light of the Trump Administration's repeal and eventual replacement of the rule, and therefor...

The Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit concerning a tile drainage system in the San Joaquin Valley that discharged agricultural drainage into navigable waters without an NPDES permit. Fishermen and conservation groups argued the district court erred by placing the burden on them of pr...

The Fifth Circuit dismissed environmental groups' challenge to EPA's issuance of a CWA general permit authorizing discharges from oil and gas facilities operating in the Gulf of Mexico. Environmental groups argued that EPA violated NEPA by failing to prepare an adequate EIS before issuing the permit...

The Fifth Circuit upheld a 2017 EPA rule that postponed compliance dates mandated by the Agency's 2015 rule setting new effluent limitation guidelines for flue gas desulfurization wastewater and bottom ash transport water from steam electric power plants. Environmental groups argued the 2017 rule ef...

In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit reversed the denial of an environmental group's motion to intervene in a lawsuit challenging EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 2015 Clean Water Rule. The court found that the group had a practical interest in the rule and that this interest was no...

A district court granted a motion for summary judgment in a challenge to EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 2015 Clean Water Rule. States and industry groups argued the rule violated the CWA by extending the agencies' jurisdiction beyond the limits of the Act. The court determined that the ru...

A district court vacated TMDLs that were established by the District of Columbia for E. Coli bacteria in portions of the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers and approved by EPA in 2014. Environmental groups challenged EPA's approval, arguing the Agency failed to set true maximum daily loads of E. Coli disc...

The Oregon Supreme Court upheld the Department of Environmental Quality's issuance of a permit for the discharge of certain pollutants resulting from suction dredge mining. A mining association argued that because suction dredge mining did not add anything to navigable waters that was not already th...

A state appellate court held invalid the Department of Ecology's administrative rule establishing summer minimum instream flows for the lower reach of the Spokane River. Environmental groups challenged the validity of the rule, arguing that it exceeded the Department's authority under the Water Reso...