News & Analysis as of

Water Environmental Litigation

Oliva Gibbs

Making a splash in the courts: The Cactus decision

Oliva Gibbs on

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of Texas held in Cactus Water Services, LLC v. COG Operating, LLC, that produced water belongs to the operator. When presented with a case where both the operator and a third party...more

Goldberg Segalla

DuPont Agrees to $27M Settlement in Hoosick Falls PFOA Contamination Lawsuit

Goldberg Segalla on

Earlier this month, chemical maker DuPont agreed to a $27 million settlement to resolve the Hoosick Falls class action, which involved allegations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) contamination of the upstate New York...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Underground Injection Control: U.S. EPA Environmental Appeals Board Petition for Review Filed Challenging Three Michigan Brine...

Flow Water Advocates (“FWA”) filed a pleading before the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Environmental Appeals Board styled: PETITION FOR REVIEW OF UNDERGROUND INJECTION CONTROL PERMITS ISSUED AND...more

Ice Miller

[Webinar] Urgent Legal Update for Water Providers: AFFF, PFAS, and Your Options - July 9th, 10:00 am - 11:00 am EST

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In today’s rapidly evolving regulatory and legal environment, drinking water providers are facing new and urgent challenges related to a class of emerging contaminants—PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.” This webinar...more

Allen Matkins

California Environmental Law & Policy Update 5.2.25

Allen Matkins on

The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) circulated a draft template, dated April 8, 2025, to assist federal agencies in updating their procedures for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)....more

Pierce Atwood LLP

May v. Must – The Scope of Agency Permitting Review under Statutory Standards

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The Law Court recently issued a decision in Eastern Maine Conservation Initiative v. Board of Environmental Protection that contains an enlightening discussion of what an agency must consider—as opposed to what an agency may...more

Nossaman LLP

New Court Case Reasserts Reasonableness as a Limitation on Water Use

Nossaman LLP on

On April 2, 2025, the Court of Appeal for California’s Fifth Appellate District issued its decision in Bring Back the Kern v. City of Bakersfield, 2025 S.O.S. 909. That case held that courts must apply the reasonableness...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Contaminants Compass: January 2025 Edition

McGuireWoods LLP on

“Contaminants Compass” is a monthly newsletter that provides updates, legal observations and actionable tips to navigate the evolving legal challenges of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). This edition discusses the...more

Perkins Coie

EIR for State Water Project Contract Amendments Upheld

Perkins Coie on

The Third District Court of Appeal upheld the Department of Water Resources’ EIR concerning State Water Project contract amendments against multiple CEQA challenges related to impact analysis, project descriptions, and...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Drain Tile System/Adjacent Landowner: Vermont Supreme Court Addresses Issues Arising in Nuisance/Trespass Action

The Supreme Court of Vermont (“Supreme Court”) in a May 24th opinion addressed issues stemming from a dairy farm’s installation of a drain tile system that discharged water into a streambed and lake allegedly affecting  a...more

Maron Marvel

PFAS Enforcement Discretion and Settlement Policy Under CERCLA

Maron Marvel on

On April 17, 2024, the EPA signed a final rule to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund. The...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

Post-Sackett, Who Will Speak for the Clean Water Act?

Earlier this month, in Lewis v. United States the 5th Circuit issued a decision interpreting the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA. The 5th Circuit decision is a model of clarity and demonstrates what I’ll call the...more

Mintz

Sunshine may be among the best disinfectants but these PFAS defendants are fighting to keep their settlement with Rome, Georgia...

Mintz on

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously exclaimed sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants. Of course the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Rome News-Tribune endorse that proposition. And, the newspapers...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

Does EPA Have Authority to Include Narrative Criteria in NPDES Permits? Yes, For Now.

Earlier this week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed EPA’s NPDES permit issued to San Francisco’s Oceanside sewer system. San Francisco had challenged the permit on the ground that EPA does not have authority to...more

Perkins Coie

EIR for Relicensing of Oroville Dam Adequately Evaluated Environmental Impacts

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An environmental impact report need not discuss impacts that are too speculative in nature for proper evaluation or assess economic costs not linked to a physical change in the environment. County of Butte v. Dept. of Water...more

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real...

A Court-Side Seat: An End-of-Year Environmental Update

As 2022 draws to a close, here is a brief description of recent environmental and regulatory law rulings, as well as new federal rulemaking proceedings....more

Perkins Coie

Dam Operations Authorized Under 1954 Statute Potentially Included Protection of Endangered Species.

Perkins Coie on

The Ninth Circuit held that statutory language defining the scope of operations of Twitchell Dam was sufficiently broad to potentially include releases of water to facilitate migration of Southern California Steelhead to the...more

Perkins Coie

Court Upholds EIR for Kern River Diversion and Storage Project

Perkins Coie on

A California Court of Appeal held that the EIR for a public water authority’s river diversion and water storage project adequately described the unadjudicated waters to be diverted and adequately analyzed impacts to water...more

Verrill

Intertidal Court Victory for Property Rights, Marine Conservation, and Public Participation

Verrill on

The Maine Superior Court has dismissed all claims against five intertidal landowners represented by Verrill in Masucci v. Judy’s Moody, LLC. The landowners had been sued because they contacted Maine Marine Patrol to report...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

Winters Water Rights Revived After Navajo Nation Case

For more than a century, since Winters v. United States, 207 U.S. 564 (1908), the Supreme Court has recognized that when the United States establishes a Native reservation, it impliedly reserves sufficient water rights to...more

Perkins Coie

Escalating Stakes in Battle for Ocean Wind

Perkins Coie on

Offshore wind development in the United States continues to draw opposition from coastal landowners, businesses, organizations, and other users of ocean waters, as it has since the industry first emerged here. However,...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

The Law Is An Ass, RCRA Edition

Late last month, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a public water supplier could be liable in a citizens’ suit brought under the imminent and substantial endangerment provisions of RCRA, where the plaintiff alleged...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

Maui’s “Functional Equivalent” Test: Courts Are Still Feeling Their Way

Earlier this month, the 9th Circuit vacated the District Court judgment in a Clean Water Act citizens’ suit, because the basis for the judgment had been undermined by the Supreme Court decision in Maui. The decision is not a...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

The Sacketts Got Their Day in Court on the Merits; Another Lesson in Being Careful What You Wish For

Last week, in what may or may not be the last round in the ongoing efforts by Michael and Chantell Sackett to build a house on wetlands in Idaho, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that: EPA reasonably determined...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

Can “Guidance” Ever Be Binding?

Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to EPA guidance that suggested a new statistical method, the Test of Significant Toxicity, for determining the toxicity of discharges subject to NPDES permits. ...more

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