On July 10, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided another Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) case, Delaware Riverkeeper Network and Maya Van Rossum v. FERC. The plaintiffs levelled a broad US. Constitutional Due Process Clause challenge at the statutory mandate from Congress that FERC recover its costs from the…
On July 6, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided the case of Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council v. EPA. Senior Judge Sentelle, writing for a unanimous panel, mostly granted the environmental petitioners petition for review of an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Air Act (CAA) rule, establishing National…
Another important case was decided by U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on July 6, American Rivers and Alabama Rivers Alliance v. FERC. The Alabama Power Company, whose application to re-license its electrical power generating facility serving Coosa River Basin in Alabama, GA, and TN was at issue, is…
On June 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided the case of Orchard Hill Building Co. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Court of Appeals vacated the decision of the District Court granting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) motion for summary judgment dismissing the Orchard Hill…
On June 28, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided the case of Center for Biological Diversity, et al., v. Export-Import Bank of the U.S., affirming the ruling of the District Court, which granted Export-Import Bank of the United States’ (Ex-Im Bank) summary judgement motion finding that, “as a…
On June 25, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) (83 F.R. 29499 (June 25, 2018)) regarding Clean Water Act Hazardous Substances Spill Prevention. “EPA has determined that the existing framework of regulatory requirements serves to prevent CWA HS discharges.” Section 311(j)(1)(C) of the Clean Water Act (CWA)…
On June 22, the Texas Supreme Court decided an important environmental case, City of Laredo, TX v. Laredo Merchants Assoc. Without dissent, the Court held that the City of Laredo’s 2014 ordinance, enacted to create a “trash-free” city, was preempted by the Texas Health & Safety Code and, in particular, Section 361.0961(a)(1)).…
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). Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, et al., v. Pruitt, Administrator of EPA involves claims by several environmental…
On June 20, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit decided the case of In re: KBR, Inc. Burn Pit Litigation, affirming the ruling of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland that the “political question” doctrine bars the plaintiff servicemembers’ personal injury lawsuits against Kellogg…
On May 19, 2017, the Ninth Circuit, United States v. Washington, affirmed the District Court’s ruling that the State of Washington, in building and maintain culverts that interfered with the Nineteenth Century Treaties with several Indian tribes, violated those treaties, which impelled the District Court to issue an injunction ordering the…