A district court granted nonprofit groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to EPA's denial of their petitions to initiate TSCA rulemaking to expand its information-gathering process regarding asbestos-related health risks. The groups argued that EPA's denial of their petitions was arbitra...
The Seventh Circuit reversed the denial of transmission companies' motion to intervene in a lawsuit challenging the Wisconsin Public Service Commission's approval of a $500 million electricity transmission line in southwestern Wisconsin. Environmental groups challenged the approval on constitutional...
The Fourth Circuit dismissed a petition to vacate or set aside the FAA's modification to a series of flight routes that caused residents of historic areas of a county in Maryland to endure "insufferable levels of noise." The county argued that the FAA failed to comply with environmental statutes and...
The Second Circuit granted in part and denied in part a challenge to provisions of EPA's Mercury Reporting Rule that exempted certain manufacturers of mercury or mercury-added products from reporting requirements. An environmental group and the state of Vermont argued that three provisions of the ru...
The Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that denied city and state officials' motions to dismiss residents' bodily integrity claim stemming from the water contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan. City officials argued they were entitled to qualified immunity because they acted on professi...
A district court dismissed for lack of standing a challenge to sugarcane producers' annual burning of sugarcane fields. Nearby landowners argued that the burning has led to a diminution of their property values and that they have suffered and continue to suffer damage to their property, unnecessary ...
A district court dismissed for lack of standing a lawsuit challenging the Executive Order that requires agencies to repeal two existing rules for each new rule promulgated. California, Minnesota, and Oregon argued that the order delayed or resulted in the undertaking of four rulemakings and that the...
The Trump Administration has aggressively rolled back prior administrations’ environmental regulations and natural resource policies, and critics of this agenda have turned to the judiciary. A remarkable string of federal court decisions has faulted the Administration for failing to follow the standard for agency policy change articulated in Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc.
A district court held invalid an amendment to the city of Toledo's charter that gave legal rights to Lake Erie. A local family farm argued the amendment was unconstitutionally vague and thus that it should be invalidated. The court found that the environmental rights of the lake and its watershed to...