The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers often exercises its Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 permitting authority through administrative “jurisdictional determinations”, in which the agency usually determines whether a proposed project involves the deposit or disposal of dredge and fill material into wetlands deemed to be “waters of the United…
On September 21, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an important Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), cost recovery lawsuit ruling relating to a contractual release of liability that pre-dated CERCLA. The case is The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company v. Beazer East, Inc.…
On September 11, 2015, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana issued a significant ruling holding that CERCLA’s “Petroleum Exclusion” applies to the release of crude oil and any quantities of benzene, toluene and xylene present in this crude oil resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill…
On September 4, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an important ruling concerning the scope of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, 16 U.S.C. § 703 (MBTA), and the federal government’s use of an EPA rule regulating the operation of petroleum refinery wastewater treatment systems in…
On September 1, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a ruling which vacates the April 2014 listing of the Lesser Prairie Chicken (LPC) as a threatened species pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. The case is Permian Basin Petroleum Association, et al. v. Department of…
On August 30, 2015, U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Hughes of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas issued an opinion dismissing the Government’s lawsuit asserting that Thomas Lipar, a real estate developer, violated the Clean Water Act by discharging fill material into jurisdictional wetlands without a permit. According…
On August 27, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a Clean Water Act (CWA) ruling affirming the decision of the lower court that STABL, Inc. the former owner and operator of a rendering plant in Lexington, Nebraska, violated the CWA and the Nebraska Environmental Protection Act. …
On August 21, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, presiding over a Clean Air Act (CAA) enforcement proceeding, granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss several alleged violations of the CAA on the basis that the prosecution of these violations was time-barred. The case is U.S.…
On August 27, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, Southeastern Division, issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the new rule jointly promulgated by EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers redefining “Waters of the United States,” which is a linchpin of federal regulatory jurisdiction under the Clean…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling Friday in the case of ONRC Action v. United States Bureau of Reclamation. Affirming the district court, the Court of Appeals held that the transfer of water into the Klamath River by means of the Klamath Straits Drain, as…