Natural Resources Defense Council v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
A New York trial court held that the state environmental agency's general permit for stormwater discharges from municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4) violates the CWA and state law. By allowing discharges based on an applicant's notice of intent (NOI) to discharge, the permitting scheme c...
Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC v. Shumlin
A district court issued a permanent injunction barring the state of Vermont from bringing an enforcement action, or taking other action, to compel the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to shut down after its license expires on March 21, 2012, if it fails to obtain legislative approval to contin...
Idaho Conservation League v. Atlanta Gold Corp.
A district court held that a mining company is liable for discharging arsenic and iron into a nearby creek in violation of its NPDES permit. The company did not deny or admit that it is in violation of its permit. Instead, it argued that the environmental group that filed suit against it lacked ...
Hearts Bluff Game Ranch, Inc. v. United States
The Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a landowner's claim for just compensation under the Fifth Amendment for an alleged taking based on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' denial of the landowner's proposal to operate a mitigation bank on its property. A mitigation bankin...
Pacific Operators Offshore, LLP v. Valladolid
The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) extends workers compensation coverage to an employee who can establish a substantial nexus between his injury and his employer's extractive operations on the outer continental shelf (OCS). The case arose after the emp...