The United States Supreme Court recently held that land may only be designated a “critical habitat” for an endangered species if that same land is first a “habitat” for an endangered species. In Weyerhaeuser Co. v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 139 S. Ct. 361 (2018), the Supreme Court evaluated the United States Fish and…
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The United States Supreme Court has asked the Solicitor General to weigh in on two petitions for writ of certiorari — one Fourth Circuit case, Upstate Forever v. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., 887 F.3d 637 (4th Cir. 2018), and the other a Ninth Circuit case, Hawai’i Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui, 886 F.3d…
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The trial in a climate change lawsuit brought by 21 youths has been stayed after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the government’s request that it consider halting the case. Juliana v. United States, No. 18-73014 (November 8, 2018), was filed in 2015 and contends the federal government pursued energy policies that caused climate change…
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The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled the Clean Water Act (CWA) does not apply to pollutants that travel through groundwater before entering navigable waters. Tennessee Clean Water Network, et al. v. Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Case No. 17-6155 (6th Cir., September 24, 2018). The ruling comes less than two weeks after a…
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The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled discharge of arsenic from a coal ash storage site through groundwater into surrounding waters does not violate the U.S. Clean Water Act and does not require a NPDES permit. Sierra Club v. Virginia Electric & Power Co., No. 17-1895 (4th Cir., September 12, 2018). A three-judge…
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A California State Superior Court jury has found Monsanto’s Roundup and Ranger Pro herbicides contributed to a school groundskeeper’s lymphoma and awarded the plaintiff a combined $289 million in compensatory and punitive damages in a landmark suit against the company, which has denied links between its herbicides and cancer for decades. Johnson v. Monsanto, et…
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In Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) v. Pruitt, 893 F.3d 225 (4th Cir. 2018), the Fourth Circuit Court of Civil Appeals rejected the District Court’s application of the “constructive submission” doctrine, which applies when a state disregards its obligations to submit Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) required by federal law. Under this doctrine, a Court…
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A federal judge in North Carolina has reduced a $50 million punitive damages award in a nuisance suit against a hog farm that stored the animal waste in open-air lagoons and sprayed it on nearby fields. McKiver, et al. v. Murphy-Brown, LLC, 7:14-CV-180 (May 7, 2018, E.D.N.C.). The Court relied on North Carolina’s law capping…
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The Fourth Circuit reversed a District Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit over a Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP subsidiary’s gasoline pipeline spill in South Carolina, holding the Clean Water Act covers claims that the spill contaminated nearby creeks and wetlands after traveling through groundwater. Upstate Forever v. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., 887 F.3d 637…
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In Duke Energy Florida, LLC v. Firstenergy Corp., CV No. 17-3024, April 10, 2018, the Sixth Circuit refused to pierce the corporate veil to determine which corporate entity would be liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq., for costs associated with cleaning up hazardous waste…
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