The U.S. Supreme Court held, 5-4, that the CWA does not authorize EPA to include "end-result" provisions in NPDES permits, in a lawsuit concerning the Agency's issuance of a renewal permit for the city of San Francisco that added two such requirements. The city petitioned for review, arguing the req...

A district court granted summary judgment for an environmental group in a lawsuit alleging that an equestrian center was unlawfully discharging pollutants into waters of the United States. The group argued the center discharged wastewater into adjacent waters without an NPDES permit, which it was re...

A district court vacated the Army Corps of Engineers' permit approvals under the CWA and the Rivers and Harbors Act (RHA) for development of a new port along the Delaware River. Three upriver ports challenged the Corps' decisionmaking process under the APA. The court found the Corps did not engage i...

A district court held that the Army Corps of Engineers violated the CWA and NEPA by issuing a dredge-and-fill permit to a municipal water utility to allow a dam expansion project in Denver. Environmental groups argued the Corps violated the CWA by excluding alternatives as impracticable based on an ...

In an unpublished opinion, the Sixth Circuit granted environmental groups' motion to stay CWA permits issued for construction of a proposed pipeline in Tennessee. The groups argued the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the Army Corps of Engineers violated the CWA by fai...

A district court granted in part and denied in part an outdoor recreation group's motion to preliminarily enjoin the National Park Service's (NPS') regulations governing commercial filming on public lands. The group argued the regulations' land use fee and permitting requirements violated the First ...

The Ninth Circuit reversed in part summary judgment for the operators of a marine cargo terminal on Puget Sound in a CWA citizen suit concerning stormwater discharges. An environmental group argued the operators were liable for discharges from the facility's entire footprint, including an area known...

The Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a constitutional challenge brought by a pipeline company concerning a 1949 permit a local levee board granted to the company to construct and maintain two pipelines across a levee in Mayersville, Mississippi. The company argued the board violated the Contracts...

A district court denied the state of Florida's motion for a limited stay of the court's prior ruling vacating EPA's approval of Florida's application to assume permitting authority under §404 of the CWA. Environmental groups initially sued, arguing EPA and FWS violated the ESA because neither the p...

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the Takings Clause does not distinguish between legislative and administrative land use permit conditions, in a lawsuit concerning a traffic impact fee as a condition of building a prefabricated home on a parcel of land. The landowner challenged the fee a...