A district court granted states' and industry groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to EPA's and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' 2015 Clean Water Rule. The states and groups argued that the final rulemaking violated the notice-and-comment requirements under the APA because the rulemak...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a challenge to the use of lead ammunition in Kaibab National Forest. Environmental groups sought to require the U.S. Forest Service to address the use of lead ammunition by hunters in the national forest, alleging the the Service's failure t...

A district court granted in part summary judgment against EPA for failure to implement its 2016 Emission Guidelines and Compliance Times for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills. Eight states argued that the Agency failed to implement and enforce the guidelines by (1) failing to approve or disapprove exi...

A state court reversed the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation's approval of a water use permit for a proposed silver-copper mine in Montana's Cabinet Mountains. An environmental group argued that the Department ignored data in the mining company's permit application indicating ...

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...