Maryland Dep't of the Environment v. Anacostia Riverkeeper
A Maryland appellate court affirmed a lower court decision remanding a stormwater management permit that the state's environmental agency issued to a county. The permit did not fall short for failing to hold the county to state water quality standards, as urged by an environmental group challenging ...
Friends of Merrymeeting Bay v. Hydro Kennebec, LLC
A district court, on remand from the First Circuit, dismissed environmental groups' CWA claim against the operators of four hydroelectric dams along the Kennebec River. The groups alleged that the operators are in violation of their water quality certifications, and thus the CWA, because they failed...
Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards v. Red River Coal Co.
A district court granted summary judgment in favor of a coal company, thereby dismissing environmental groups' CWA claim that the company violated its NPDES permit. The dispute centered on the parties' competing interpretations of a boilerplate condition of all of the company's NPDES permits that pr...
Gulf Restoration Network v. McCarthy
The Fifth Circuit reversed and remanded a lower court decision ordering EPA to determine whether new water quality standards were necessary to control nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the mainstem of the Mississippi River and the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The case arose after EPA denied environme...
Hawkes Co. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers
The Eighth Circuit held that a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers jurisdictional determination (JD) is a final agency action under the APA, thereby creating a split between the circuits. The case arose after a company sought to mine peat from wetland property owned by two affiliated companies in northwest...
Shell Offshore, Inc. v. Greenpeace, Inc.
A district court granted an oil company's motion for a temporary restraining order barring environmental activists from entering a 1,000 meter "safety zone" around three drilling vessels in the U.S. exclusive economic zone. The company alleged that Greenpeace USA is acting in concert with Greenpeace...