A North Dakota district court enjoined in Iowa the 2015 Clean Water Rule, which clarifies the definition of "waters of the United States" that are protected under the CWA. The governor of Iowa sought an order from the court expressly stating that the Clean Water Rule was enjoined in Iowa following t...
The Fourth Circuit held that seepage from a coal-fired power plant did not violate §301 of the CWA, which prohibits the unauthorized discharge of any pollutant into navigable waters. An environmental group argued that the plant's landfill and settling ponds qualified as point sources from which ars...
A district court granted Texas' motion to preliminarily enjoin the 2015 Clean Water Rule in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The state argued that implementing the rule would require it to spend significant time and taxpayer resources attempting to determine how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wi...
The Third Circuit denied review of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's decision to grant a CWA §401 certification for a natural gas pipeline project. Environmental groups argued that the department acted arbitrarily and capriciously by issuing a §401 certification that was im...
A state review board affirmed the Washington Department of Ecology's denial of a CWA §401 certification requested by a coal company for a proposed coal export terminal. The company argued that its request was categorically exempt from the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), and that the departme...
A district court ruled in favor of environmental groups' challenge EPA's rule suspending the 2015 Waters of the United States Rule (WOTUS Rule), and enjoined the suspension rule nationwide. The groups argued that the suspension rule violated the APA by refusing to solicit public comments on the meri...
The Fourth Circuit denied environmental groups' petition to review Virginia's issuance of §401 certification under the CWA for construction of a natural gas pipeline. The groups argued that state agencies acted arbitrarily and capriciously in issuing the §401 certificate because the agencies didn'...
The Second Circuit denied environmental groups' and industry associations' petitions to review a final rule promulgated by EPA establishing requirements for cooling water intake structures (CWISs) at existing power plants and manufacturing facilities, as well as a biological opinion jointly issued b...
The Fifth Circuit vacated a lower court's decision to preliminarily enjoin a pipeline company from constructing part of a pipeline through the Atchafalaya Basin, a sensitive wetlands area in southern Louisiana. Environmental groups argued that the EAs conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (C...
The Fourth Circuit reversed a lower court's grant of summary judgment requiring EPA and West Virginia to address coal mining-related water pollution. Environmental groups argued that EPA failed to perform its nondiscretionary duty under the CWA to promulgate TMDLs for biologically impaired waters in...