A district court dismissed a landowner's lawsuit challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' jurisdictional determination for property that contains peat. The Corps issued its jurisdictional determination after the landowner sought permission to mine peat from the property for use in the construct...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision vacating the Nevada state engineer's approval of the state wildlife agency's application to transfer water rights from agricultural land in the Newlands Reclamation Project to the Carson Lake and Pasture, a wetlands-containing wildlife refuge, in ord...

A California court held that the California Department of Public Health must adopt a final primary drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium. The state legislature commanded the department to adopt a standard by January 1, 2004; the department is therefore in ongoing violation of its ministeri...

A district court dismissed a homebuilder association's lawsuit against EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers challenging their determination that portions of the Santa Cruz River are traditional navigable waters (TNW) under the CWA. The association lacks standing because it failed to allege a spe...

A district court held that a mining company is liable under the CWA for the unpermitted discharge of selenium at one its surface mines. The company did not dispute that it has been discharging selenium from the mine, nor did it contest the fact that its permit contains no explicit authorization to d...

A district court upheld DOI's approval of oil spill response plans an oil company submitted for drilling operations in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. Despite environmental groups' arguments to the contrary, an environmental review was not required under NEPA since the approvals do not constitute a m...

The Ninth Circuit, on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, held that pollution exceedances detected at monitoring stations in Los Angeles County were sufficient to establish the county's liability for NPDES permit violations under the CWA. In Los Angeles County Flood Control Dist. v. Natural Resource...

The Seventh Circuit upheld a dredge and fill permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a highway project that crosses wetlands in Indiana. The Corps adequately considered practicable alternatives when it issued the permit. Although the Corps has an independent responsibility to enforce t...

The Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court decision dismissing a conservation group's CWA citizen suit alleging that a scrap metal company violated California's general NPDES permit for industrial stormwater at three of its scrap recycling facilities. The lower court dismissed the case, holding that C...

The District of Columbia's highest court upheld the dismissal of a property owner's lawsuit against the D.C. sewer and water authority for pinhole leaks in his apartment buildings' pipes. The trial record provides ample support for the court's determination that the authority's actions or inactions ...