On Friday, March 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued another significant ruling in a Clean Water Act (CWA) Citizen Suit case. Affirming the District Court, the Ninth Circuit held “pipes, ditches, and...more
On March 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision interpreting Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 and the Federal Regulatory Energy Commission’s (FERC) permitting authority, which may have settled...more
On February 27, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana granted a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by a group of environmental plaintiffs seeking to halt the construction of an oil pipeline in...more
On February 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit filed an unpublished opinion in the case of U.S. v. CITGO Petroleum Corporation, upholding the ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of...more
Recently, the Trump Administration released a 53-page Legislative Outline for Rebuilding Infrastructure in America of legislative proposals to rebuild American infrastructure, which it defines as surface transportation,...more
2/23/2018
/ Brownfield Properties ,
CEQ ,
CERCLA ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
Infrastructure ,
Infrastructure Financing ,
US Army Corps of Engineers
On February 6, the new rule promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which establishes an “applicability date” for the 2015 Rule redefining the regulatory definition of “Waters...more
In the case of Hawaii Wildlife Fund, et al., v. County of Maui, decided on February 1, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the decision of the U.S. District Court for Hawaii that the County of...more
On January 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit became the latest federal Court of Appeals to issue a ruling reviving federal District Court challenges to the 2015 Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)/U.S....more
On January 24, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit decided the case of Conservation Law Foundation, Inc., v. Pruitt. The Pruitt case involves a consolidated appeal from the decisions of the U.S. District Courts in...more
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 102(c) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, as amended, the Office of the Secretary, Department of Homeland Security, in her “sole discretion” has...more
The Foreign Spill Protection Act of 2017 amends the Oil Pollution Act and Clean Water Act to hold foreign-based offshore facilities liable for spills entering U.S. waters -
New law establishes oil spill liability in the...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in National Assoc. of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense, et al. (the WOTUS case). The Court held that the plain language of the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires...more
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Office of Management and Budget(Administration) has posted the Fall 2017 Agency Statements of Regulatory Priorities, and what follows is a selection of future environmental...more
12/21/2017
/ Bureau of Land Management ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of the Interior ,
Department of Transportation (DOT) ,
Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
NEPA ,
NPRM ,
RCRA ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States
On November 27. the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided an important Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdictional case, United States. The Ninth Circuit unanimously affirmed the defendant’s criminal convictions for...more
On November 7, in U.S. v. American Commercial Lines, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s ruling that American Commercial Lines (ACL), the owner of a tug boat whose contracted...more
On November 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its long-awaited ruling in Ecological Rights Foundation v. Pacific Gas & Electric Company, which clarifies the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act’s...more
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in two significant cases: Nat’l Assoc. of Mfr. v. Dep’t of Defense and Jesner v. Arab Bank, PLC.
In National Association of Manufacturers, the Court is being asked to...more
On September 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its long-awaited opinion in the case of U.S. v. Moss, et al. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s ruling that the Outer Continental Shelf...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) decision in the matter of Millennium Pipeline Company, LLC was issued on September 15, 2017. FERC determined that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in the case of Constitution Pipeline Company, LLC v. New York Department of Environmental Conservation, et al. (released August 18, 2017), rejected the Constitution Pipeline...more
On August 4, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee issued a very significant ruling in the case of Tennessee Clean Water Network, et al., v. Tennessee Valley Authority. The District Court has ordered...more
The 2016 Term of the U.S. Supreme Court was fairly quiet, perhaps reflecting the fact that with only eight members, the Court needed a working consensus to handle its docket. The Court handed down seventy rulings, but only a...more
7/25/2017
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
BNSF Railway Co v Tyrrell ,
CalPERS v ANZ Securities ,
Clean Water Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Employers Liability Act ,
Federal Vacancies Reform Act ,
Kokesh v SEC ,
Murr v Wisconsin ,
NLRB ,
Popular ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 13 ,
Securities Act of 1933
On May 30, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit decided the case of Environmental Integrity Project, et al. v. EPA. Affirming the District Court, the Court of Appeals held that Exemption 4 of the Freedom of...more
Many large and complicated construction projects require the issuance of several differed permits having different requirements. Courts strive to interpret their requirements in a rational and reasonable manner.
On May 23,...more
On April 20, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Anderson Division, dismissed the plaintiffs’ Clean Water Act (CWA) Citizen Suit which alleged that the defendant pipeline operators had violated the CWA...more