The Seventh Circuit held that an environmental group has standing to challenge a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit allowing 18.4 acres of wetlands in a state park to be destroyed to make way for a landfill. A lower court held that the group lacked standing and therefore dismissed the case. It...

The Seventh Circuit denied environmental groups' petitions challenging EPA's approval of revisions to Wisconsin's new source review program. In 2002, EPA changed the rules that determine when polluters need permits in order to modify existing facilities—and, if they need permits, what restrictions...

The Ninth Circuit held that the CAA does not preempt a local air district's adoption and enforcement of rules regulating air emissions from diesel-powered engines. CAA §209(e) expressly prohibits states from setting "standards or other requirements relating to the control of emissions" from no...

The Tenth Circuit upheld the dismissal of an environmental group's CAA citizen suit against a power company alleging that it was attempting to build a coal-fired power plant with an invalid PSD permit. The permit provided that if construction did not commence by May 29, 2005, or if construction...

The Ninth Circuit, in an amended opinion, held that stormwater runoff from logging roads that is collected by and then discharged from a system of ditches, culverts, and channels is a point source discharge for which an NPDES permit is required. Accordingly, the court reversed a lower court dec...

A district court held that environmental groups may go forward with their claims that coal-contaminated dust, slurry, water, and snow is being discharged from a coal loading facility into a bay in violation of the CWA. Although the facility has an NPDES permit, the groups argued that the per...

The Fourth Circuit reversed and remanded a lower court decision upholding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' conclusion that it had jurisdiction over wetlands on a developer's property. The Corps permissibly defined the scope of its review area as including 448 acres of similarly situated wetlands. B...

The D.C. Circuit denied a power company's petition for review of a FERC order that North Carolina did not waive its CWA certification authority necessary for the relicensing of the company's hydroelectric facilities. One of the preconditions of relicensing is receipt of a state certification th...

A district court ordered EPA to promulgate emission standards for area source boilers, major source boilers, and commercial and institutional solid waste incineration units by February 21, 2011. In March 2006, the court ordered EPA to fulfill its statutory duties regarding the promulgation o...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision denying the award of attorney fees to an environmental group in their lawsuit against a town for discharging toxic pollutants into a bay in violation of the CWA. In that case, the court held that the town must apply for an NPDES permit for its harbor...