On April 17, we posted about the federal district court for Montana vacating the Nationwide Permit (NWP) 12 and enjoining the Army Corps of Engineers’ authorization for the use of
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Permitting
Significant Environmental Cases in Pa. Courts During 2018 (Part 2)
Part 2 of this series on the large number of environmental cases decided by the Pennsylvania appellate courts in 2018 discusses enforcement, the Oil and Gas Act, valuation, and a…
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Successive Owners and an Obligation to Restore a Stream
Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decided Becker v. Department of Environmental Protection, No. 560 C.D. 2017 (Pa. Commw. Ct. Dec. 1, 2017), a case focused primarily on…
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Further Update on Challenging Wetlands Permitting Decisions – the Latest Ruling in Hawkes
In a previous post we predicted that the U.S. Supreme Court would affirm an Eighth Circuit decision holding that a landowner can obtain immediate judicial review of a wetlands “jurisdictional…
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FAST Act Implementation Progress: An Important Tool for Expediting Energy Projects for the Incoming Trump Administration?
FAST Act Implementation Progress: An Important Tool for Expediting Energy Projects for the Incoming Trump Administration?
On Dec. 4, 2015, President Obama signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act, also…
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Federal Court Rejects Citizen Suit to Force Stormwater Permitting Program
Last week, a federal district court in Rhode Island dismissed a citizen suit that sought to radically expand Clean Water Act stormwater permitting programs. In Conservation Law Found’n v. U.S. …
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U.S. EPA Declines to Require Permits for Stormwater Discharges from Commercial Properties
How to regulate stormwater discharges from impervious areas such as parking lots remains a hotly disputed environmental issue. Most recently, U.S. EPA Region 9 rejected a petition filed by environmental…
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Multiple Challenges Filed Against Massachusetts Small MS4 Stormwater General Permit
The long odyssey of the Massachusetts Small MS4 stormwater general permit continues – the latest chapter involving four separate appeals filed in two courts seeking to modify the permit’s terms. …
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Supreme Court Allows Immediate Challenges to Army Corps’ Clean Water Act Determinations
On May 31, 2016, in a unanimous ruling, the United States Supreme Court held that the Army Corps’ determination as to whether “protected waters,” subject to Clean Water Act regulations,…
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Massachusetts Takes Important Step Towards Clean Water Act Permitting Delegation
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has filed legislation that moves Massachusetts one step closer to a long-desired goal: authorization to administer the Clean Water Act NPDES permitting program. Currently, Massachusetts is…
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