A district court granted two Baltimore solid waste incineration facilities' partial motion for summary judgment in a challenge to the Baltimore Clean Air Act (BCAA). The facilities argued the BCAA was "conflict preempted" by Maryland law because it prohibited solid waste incinerators from operating ...
Drinking water contamination in Flint, Michigan, has garnered much-needed nationwide attention, but such contamination is neither isolated, nor a primarily urban problem. A hidden water crisis is straining thousands of smaller communities that share Flint’s risk factors—shrinking populations, social marginalization, and deficient funds. This Article posits that the Safe Drinking Water Act’s increasingly decentralized monitoring and funding scheme has drained communities of the capacity to deliver safe water.
A district court denied summary judgment to an environmental group challenging the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers' issuance of a CWA §404 permit for development of an additional portion of an existing residential subdivision in Virginia Beach. The group argued the issuance was arbitrary and capricious...
A district court denied a motion to dismiss a challenge to NMFS' decision to issue incidental harassment authorizations to five companies to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas in the Mid- and South Atlantic Ocean. South Carolina challenged President Trump's reversal via Executive Order No. 1379...
A district court dismissed a lawsuit challenging two protocol agreements entered into by Native American tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs that established procedures for enforcement of the tribes' water rights in the Upper Klamath Basin. A group of ranchers and landowners argued that the agre...
The Tenth Circuit vacated EPA orders that granted extensions of exemptions under the CAA's renewable fuels program for three small refineries. Industry groups challenged the orders, arguing that EPA failed to honor the statutory requirement of an "extension" by confusing an extension of an exemption...
The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's approval of a CWA §404 permit for a proposed mine along the Menominee River. A Native American tribe argued that EPA and the Corps should have exercised authority over the permit because circ...
Marine litter is human-created waste that has been discharged into the marine environment, including glass, metal, plastics, and other debris. According to data compiled by the United Nations, the equivalent of a garbage truck filled with plastic is dumped into the ocean every minute—more than 8 million metric tons per year. On November 11, 2019, the Environmental Law Institute hosted an expert panel that explored recent U.S.
The Washington Supreme Court invalidated a rule promulgated by the state's Department of Ecology authorizing regulation via emission standards of businesses that do not directly emit greenhouse gases (GHGs), but whose products do. Industry groups and utility companies argued the Department lacked au...