As the end of summer approaches, the courts have provided a potpourri of relevant environmental decisions. FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL - Town of Weymouth, et al. v. Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) -...more
Decision creates difficult permitting challenges for oil and gas pipelines crossing jurisdictional waters.
Oil and gas pipelines continue to face difficult permitting challenges as Ninth Circuit declines to revive vacated...more
6/5/2020
/ Clean Water Act ,
Construction Industry ,
Dakota Access Pipeline ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Keystone XL Pipeline ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Nationwide Permits (NWPs) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
SCOTUS ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service
In late December, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the “Fall 2019 Unified Agenda of Regulatory Actions” just a few days before the Calendar turned to the year 2020....more
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two important environmental cases—one that could change the approach to routine maritime charters and another that could introduce a potentially punishing...more
The pre-publication version of the final rule to be promulgated by EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) to repeal the 2015 redefinition of the Clean Water Act’s term “Waters of the United States” which is the...more
The federal courts have recently decided two significant Clean Water Act (CWA) cases: State of Georgia, et al. v. Wheeler, where the US District Court for the Southern District of Georgia held that the 2015 rulemaking...more
In just the past few weeks, three states have used their Clean Water Act 401 authority to delay, for an indefinite period, FERC-authorized pipeline expansion projects....more
State of Texas, et al. v. US EPA. The revised regulatory definition of “Waters of the U.S.” continues to generate litigation in the federal courts....more
The latest federal regulatory agenda has been released, which, among other matters, lists proposed and projected environmental regulatory proceedings being considered by different departments and agencies. ...more
5/31/2019
/ CERCLA ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Coast Guard ,
Comment Period ,
Drinking Water ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
NPRM ,
OSHA ,
Safe Drinking Water Act ,
US Army Corps of Engineers
On Tuesday, April 23, 2019, in a development of interest to practically anyone who operates a plant or business, EPA published its Interpretive Statement in the Federal Register....more
On April 10, President Trump issued two Executive Orders (EO) relating to the revision of some aspects of federal energy policy and development.
1. The first EO is very comprehensive, affecting many federal agencies and...more
In a decision released on March 31, in Sackett v. EPA, the U.S. District Court for Idaho held, without benefit of oral argument, that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) motion for summary judgment should be granted,...more
On March 1, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided National Parks Conservation Assoc. v. Todd T. Simonite, Lieutenant General, et al. The case involves an application to the U.S. Army Corps of...more
On February 15, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decided Norfolk Southern Railway Co. v. City of Roanoke, et al.; the Chesapeake Bay Foundation was an Intervenor-Defendant. ...more
Prior to deciding whether to review an important February 1, 2018, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision involving the jurisdictional reach of the Clean Water Act (CWA), Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, et al., v. County...more
On September 30, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a ruling dismissing claims that the operation of a municipal waste landfill violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Resource Conservation and...more
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, housed in the Office of Management and Budget, has issued the Fall 2018 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions to be taken over the next several months by...more
On September 21, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided the case of Tin Cup, LLC v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A divided panel of the Court of Appeals (although all members concurred in the result)...more
The Clean Water Act (CWA) authorizes citizen suits to enforce the provisions of the law which requires a permit to discharge a pollutant from a point source into navigable waters. ...more
On July 23, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided the case of Cooling Water Intake Structure Coalition v. EPA. Environmental conservation groups and industry associations petitioned for review of a...more
Unlike other Terms, only a handful of cases addressed administrative and environmental law issues in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2017-2018 Term. However, the next Term of the Court promises to be more active in these areas....more
7/17/2018
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Alien Tort Statute ,
Anti-Commandeering ,
Appointments Clause ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Jesner et al. v. Arab Bank ,
Lucia v SEC ,
Murphy v National Collegiate Athletic Association ,
Navarro v Encino Motorcars ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Waters of the United States
On June 20, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decided what be a very important decision for companies with mining interests in West Virginia, impacting their ability to comply with the Clean Water Act (CWA)....more
On April 12, a significant Clean Water Act (CWA) ruling has been made by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The Fourth Circuit, in a split decision, held, in a case of first impression in this circuit, that the...more
On April 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in a unanimous opinion, rejected the challenges to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) decision to issue a Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 permit to the...more
On March 20, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided the case of Marquette County Road Commission v. U.S. EPA, et al. The opinion will not be published in the Federal Reporter. Both the trial court and the...more