Newsletter Articles

Suit Seeks National Numeric Criteria for Nutrients in U.S. Waters

May 2, 2012

A pending lawsuit filed by nearly a dozen environmental groups[1] seeks to force EPA to establish numeric nutrient criteria for U.S. waters. High nutrient loadings can deplete oxygen in the water and cause fish injury, algae blooms and other environmental damage. To date, nutrient standards have been largely left to the states. More »

Environmental Groups Target Coal Ash Disposal

May 2, 2012

Environmental groups have asked a federal court to compel EPA to finalize rules regulating the disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCR) under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).[1] They are joined by a manufacturer and marketer of products made with recycled coal ash who alleges, in a companion suit, that the agency is harming More »

Federal Court Rejects After-the-Fact EPA Veto of Army Corps of Engineer’s Water Quality Permit

April 16, 2012

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has held that the U.S. EPA exceeded its authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA)[1] when it attempted to invalidate a permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) had issued authorizing Mingo Logan Coal Company, Inc. More »

Public Interest Groups First to Challenge California Cap-and-Trade Rules

April 16, 2012

Two public interest groups have sued to overturn elements of California’s recently approved cap-and-trade rules. In Citizens Climate Lobby and Our Children’s Earth Foundation v. More »

Split Decision on Oregon’s New Temperature Water Quality Standards

April 10, 2012

A federal court in Oregon has partially upheld and partially rejected new numeric and narrative water quality standards for temperature adopted by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) and approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In Northwest Environmental Advocates v. More »

Local Bans on Hydraulic Fracturing Upheld in New York State, Struck Down in West Virginia

April 10, 2012

Attempts by local governments to ban hydraulic fracturing (commonly called “fracking”) have been met with mixed results in the courts. Recently, local bans have been upheld by two state trial courts in upstate New York; but struck down by a state court in Morgantown, West Virginia. More »

Supreme Court Reverses Montana High Court in Rent for Riverbeds Case

April 3, 2012

On February 22nd, a unanimous Supreme Court reversed the Montana Supreme Court’s ruling that required a hydroelectric dam operator to pay the State of Montana nearly $40 million in back rent for the use of state-owned riverbeds. In PPL Montana, LLC v. More »

Ski Areas Sue Forest Service Over Alleged Taking of Private Water Rights on Public Lands

April 3, 2012

The National Ski Areas Association (“Ski Areas”) has filed suit in a federal court in Colorado seeking to invalidate a water rights provision inserted into U.S. Forest Service (“Forest Service”) leases that ski areas assert would force them to transfer private water rights to the U.S. government. More »

Closely Watched Sackett Case Argued in Supreme Court

January 17, 2012

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument on January 9, 2012 in Sackett, v. EPA,[1] a case that has the potential to change EPA administrative enforcement under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”). More »

Unanimous Supreme Court Tells EPA Its Orders Can Be Appealed

March 23, 2012

In a decision handed down on March 21, 2012, Justice Antonin Scalia found it easy to give Mike and Chantelle Sackett their day in court. Writing for a unanimous Supreme Court in the case of Sackett v. More »

California Cap and Trade Update: Low-Carbon Fuel Standard Enjoined. What Next?

January 25, 2012

On December 29, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California (Judge O’Neill) issued two rulings that struck down California’s low carbon fuel program and enjoined its further enforcement. At least some commentators believe California’s recently-adopted cap-and-trade rules under AB32 could be similarly enjoined if the same types of challenges are brought. More »

Ninth Circuit Finds Fish & Wildlife Failed to Adequately Account for Climate Impacts, Keeps Yellowstone Grizzlies on ESA List

January 10, 2012

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a Montana district court ruling that blocked the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (the “Service”) from removing Yellowstone grizzly bears from the ESA’s threatened species list. Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Inc. v. Servheen, --- F.3d ----, 2011 WL 5840646 (9th Cir. 2011). More »

Potential Sage Grouse Listing Continues to Shape Western Energy Development and Grazing Rights

January 17, 2012

At the close of 2011, the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) issued two instruction memoranda addressing land use planning and management measures for the Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasiunus) in eleven Western states. The memoranda follow: 1) the U.S. More »

Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Ninth Circuit Decisions Show Why Meeting the Merits in NEPA Challenges May Be Better Than Fighting the Process

March 19, 2012

In what NEPA practitioners will likely view as a split decision, the Ninth Circuit finally ended seven years of procedural haggling as to whether certain claims had been properly presented, by ruling – on the merits – that snowmaking at an Arizona ski resort can proceed. Save the Peaks Coalition v. U.S. More »

Hydraulic Fracturing: Legislative and Regulatory Trends

October 4, 2011

Hydraulic fracturing (commonly called “fracking”) is a method for increasing output at oil and natural gas wells by breaking open gas-bearing rock formations using high-pressure fluid injection. More »

Challenges to EPA’s Controversial Cross-State Air Pollution Rule Move Forward

February 22, 2012

EPA’s latest attempt to regulate emissions from power plants in “upwind” states that allegedly contribute to air quality degradation in “downwind” states has come under blistering attack from dozens of petitioners, who filed a consolidated opening brief earlier this month. More »

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