On January 27, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia held that the waste water discharges of a mining operation in the coal mining areas were subject to a Clean Water Act (CWA) and Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) citizen suit. The District…
Industry representatives have complained that from time to time that EPA will enter into settlements of lawsuits brought by environmental interest groups that have the effect of excluding industry representatives from participating in the final settlement. Usually these lawsuits involve claims that EPA has failed to take a regulatory action–usually…
On January 27, 2015, the U.S. District Court for Minnesota granted summary judgment to EPA and two environmental groups defending EPA’s decision to release personal data submitted by a group of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) farm facilities who were also applicants for Minnesota wastewater discharges. The plaintiffs argued that…
Tuesday, Pillsbury attorneys Matt Morrison and Bryan Stockton published their client alert Recent Cases on Clean Air Act Preemption of Common Law Torts Upend Conventional Wisdom. The Alert discusses two recent appellate-level decisions allowing state common law tort claims against an intrastate emitting source to avoid Clean Air Act (CAA)…
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that ICG Hazard, LLC’s Clean Water Act (CWA) general permit defense, located in the CWA at 33 U.S.C. 1342(k), shielded the mining company from a CWA enforcement lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club. The case is Sierra Club v. ICG Hazard, LLC,…
In a very long opinion (111 pages), making rulings on motions for summary judgment and the controverted exclusion of expert witness testimony, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington held that the manure management practices of a number of large dairy operations in Washington State generated dangerous…
Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit decided the case of Hobart Corporation, et al., v. Waste Management of Ohio, Inc., et al., 758 F. 3d 757 (2014), holding that the statute of limitation applicable for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980…
Yesterday, I posted my client alert Reversing Course, EPA Tightens Its RCRA Hazardous Waste Recycling Rules. This Alert discusses the EPA’s harder line on its interpretation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act rules that govern industrial recycling following years of relative easing into these rules. A recently issued regulation…
On January 14, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit decided an important Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, 42 U.S.C. § 9607(a)(3)(“CERCLA”), liability case: Vine Street LLC v. Borg Warner Corporation. The Court of Appeals held that as a result of a 2009…
On November 5, 2014, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit refused to reconsider its June 2014 decision affirming the District Court’s decision that B.P. Exploration & Production, Incorporated and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation can be held liable for violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) in…