Wild Fish Conservancy v. Jewell
The Ninth Circuit dismissed a conservation group's lawsuit challenging DOI's diversion of water from Icicle Creek, a tributary of the Wenatchee River and the Columbia River, to the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery without a state permit. The group argued that DOI violated §8 of the Reclamation Ac...
Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition v. Marfork Coal Co.
A district court held that a coal company discharged excessive amounts of selenium into the waters of West Virginia in violation of the CWA and SMCRA. The environmental group that filed suit against the company has standing, and it satisfied the statutes' 60-day notice requirements for citizen suits...
Whiteman v. Chesapeake Appalachia, L.L.C.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing farmer's West Virginia common law trespass claims against a natural gas company. The landowners sought an injunction and damages stemming from on the company's drilling and operation of three natural gas wells on surface property owned by...
Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Bragg
A Texas appellate court affirmed a lower court decision that commercial pecan growers suffered a regulatory taking when the Edwards Aquifer Authority—a water reclamation district—denied the growers' request for a water permit for one of their pecan orchards and granted a limited permit for a sec...