The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA's implementation of its Renewable Fuel Standards Program, which requires transportation fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels. Some industry groups argued that EPA arbitrarily refused to revise its 2010 point of obligation rule that...

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...

The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA's decision not to issue financial responsibility requirements for the hard-rock mining industry. Environmental groups argued the decision violated CERCLA by wrongly interpreting the term "risk" in the operative provisions as limited to the risk of taxpayer-funded response...

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...

The D.C. Circuit upheld an EPA rule that classified as "recycled" certain hazardous material sent to a third-party reclamation facility and thus exempted the material from RCRA regulations governing discarded waste. Environmental groups argued the rule violated RCRA because material that a generator...

The D.C. Circuit dismissed a petition to review EPA's order denying an environmental group's objection to renewal of a Title V operating permit for a power plant in Utah. The group objected that the renewal permit incorporated requirements in a 1997 Title I preconstruction permit that was based on a...

The D.C. Circuit dismissed in part and denied in part a petition to review EPA's 2016 revisions to its ambient air quality monitoring system regulations. An environmental group argued that the revisions violated the CAA by not requiring states to give advance notice and hold a public hearing when ma...

A district court denied Oklahoma's motion to preliminarily enjoin EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from enforcing their 2015 Clean Water Rule. The state sought to enjoin the 2015 Rule from being enforced until a final judgment was entered in the case. But the court found the potential harm f...