A district court stayed a constitutional challenge to the Washington Department of Ecology's decision to deny a coal company a CWA §401 certification for construction of a coal export facility along the Columbia River. The company argued that the Department violated the Commerce Clause by denying t...
A district court denied an offshore drilling platform operator's motion to reconsider the court's previous ruling that barred the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) from issuing offshore drilling permits until it conducted further environmental review. Conservation groups had argued that BOEM'...
The Fifth Circuit vacated portions of a 2015 EPA rule that set new effluent limitation guidelines (ELGs) for legacy wastewater and combustion residual leachate that are discharged from steam electric power plants. Environmental groups argued that the Agency arbitrarily set the ELGs using an older, l...
The D.C. Circuit denied downwind states' petition challenging EPA's refusal to expand the Northeast Ozone Transport Region, which consists of states required by the Agency to enact tight restrictions on pollutants that contribute to ozone that drifts across state lines. The downwind states argued th...
A state high court affirmed a lower court's summary judgment for the Montana Department of Environmental Quality in a challenge to the Department's issuance of a NPDES general permit for discharges from municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s). An environmental group challenged the permit, argu...
A district court denied a city's motion for a preliminary injunction in a RCRA lawsuit against two utility companies that owned a long-abandoned manufactured gas plant. The city alleged that the plant had contaminated soil in a nearby park and around a decommissioned water main, and sought to requir...
The D.C. Circuit granted hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) manufacturers' petitions to review a 2016 EPA rule that rendered certain HFCs unacceptable for various uses in aerosols, motor vehicle air conditioners, commercial refrigerators, and foams. The court found that it was bound by a previous ruling that s...
A district court granted Washington's and environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to the state's decision to deny a coal company a CWA §401 certification for construction of a coal export facility along the Columbia River. A railroad company, which planned to provide rail s...
A district court denied Ohio's and Tennessee's motion to preliminarily enjoin EPA's 2015 Clean Water Rule that clarified the definition of "waters of the United States" under the CWA. The states challenged the validity of the rule, arguing it extended the scope of the CWA beyond the reach of the sta...
A district court granted in part and denied in part an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a challenge to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA's) approval of two spill response plans for an oil pipeline that crosses Michigan's Straits of Mackinac. The ...