The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a decision on August 3, 2026, which clarified the scope of the diligent prosecution bar to citizen suits under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”).  The decision was a partial victory for the environmental organizations that brought the lawsuit and adds to the body of appellate decisions aiming to elucidate this heavily litigated area of the law. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Air, CERCLA, Citizen Suit, Citizens Suit, Clean Air Act, Colorado, Consent Decree, Diligent Prosecution, Emissions, EPA, Loper Bright, Pollutants, Superfund, Tenth Circuit

In a significant decision for Clean Air Act enforcement, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California held that citizens may pursue Clean Air Act claims against a state or local air agency in their regulatory capacity for allegedly failing to carry out State Implementation Plan (SIP) obligations. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Agency Action, Air, California, Citizen Suit, Clean Air Act, Emissions, Hazardous Air Pollutants, Pollutants

In an Order issued on May 18, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit denied a motion for a stay pending appeal filed by a coalition of environmental groups, who sought to halt the construction of a pipeline project in Virginia and North Carolina. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Appeals, Agency Action, Army Corps, Citizen Suit, Clean Water Act, Energy, Fourth Circuit, Natural Gas, Natural Gas Act, North Carolina, Oil and Gas, Permits, Pipelines, West Virginia, Wetlands

In a significant April 2026 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit vacated a district court injunction that had halted operation of an immigration detention facility constructed in the Florida Everglades (“the Facility”). The case, Friends of the Everglades v. Secretary of Homeland Security, No. 25-12873, turned on two threshold issues: (1) whether the plaintiffs challenged a final agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and (2) whether the project constituted a major federal action under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).  The Eleventh Circuit answered both questions in the negative, concluding that the plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on the merits and that the preliminary injunction should not have been granted. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Procedures Act, Citizen Suit, Eleventh Circuit, Florida, Informal Agency Action, NEPA

On January 14, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied a petition for review challenging the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s (“TCEQ”) approval of a third extension of the construction deadline for the Texas LNG Port of Brownsville liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) terminal. The Court held that although environmental justice advocates had standing to challenge the extension, TCEQ’s executive director acted within her delegated authority and the agency’s decision was supported by substantial evidence under Texas administrative law. The ruling, South Texas Environmental Justice Network v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality et al., Case No. 24-60580, clarifies the procedural and substantive standards governing construction-deadline extensions for New Source Review (“NSR”) permits under Texas law and reinforces agency discretion when permittees satisfy the express requirements of the applicable regulation. Read More »

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The Ninth Circuit’s November 5^th decision in Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation, v. Naples Restaurant Group, LLC exploded onto the scene -- deepening an existing circuit split on whether a Clean Water Act citizen suit stays alive based solely only civil penalties once the alleged wrongful conduct ceases.  Consistent with the Eighth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit answered this question in the negative in Naples Restaurant.  The Second, Third, Fourth, Seventh and Eleventh Circuits have previously answered the question in the affirmative.  Overall, the key takeaway is for parties to make sure they are cognizant of the prevailing rule in their Circuit, and to be prepared to raise or respond to the arguments implicated by the Naples Restaurant opinion. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Citizen Suit, Citizens Suit, Civil Penalties, Clean Water Act, Enforcement, Ninth Circuit, NPDES, Permits, Pollutants, Water

This month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held in Confederated Tribes of the Colville Rsrv. v. Teck Cominco Metals Ltd, No. 24-5565, 2025 WL 2525853 (9th Cir. Sept. 3, 2025) that CERCLA permits recovery of natural resource damages with a cultural use component, effectively reversing the district court’s holding that cultural resource damages are not authorized under CERCLA. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: CERCLA, Citizen Suit, Citizens Suit, Contamination, Natural Resource Damages, Ninth Circuit, Pollutants, Tribal Lands, Water, Water Use

On June 30, 2025, the Supreme Court denied the Port of Tacoma (the “Port”) and SSA Terminals LLC's (“SSA”) petition for writ of certiorari to review the 9^th Circuit’s decision in Port of Tacoma v. Puget Soundkeeper Alliance addressing whether the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) authorizes citizens to enforce conditions of state-issued pollutant discharge permits adopted under state law that impose a greater scope of coverage than required by the CWA.  The 9th Circuit answered this question in the affirmative, holding that Washington's Industrial Stormwater General Permits (“ISGP”), a CWA National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit, required the Port and SSA to have the necessary stormwater controls across the entire West Sitcum Terminal (the “Terminal”).  The Supreme Court's recent decision to deny certiorari leaves litigants open to a patchwork of Circuit determinations on the scope of the CWA’s citizen suit provision.  Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Citizen Suit, Citizens Suit, Clean Water Act, Ninth Circuit, NPDES, Permits, Private Right of Action, Stormwater, Supreme Court, United States Supreme Court, Water

On October 29, 2024 in Dawson v. Murphy, et al., the New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division affirmed the trial court’s order denying Plaintiffs leave to amend their complaint to assert a claim that New Jersey’s investment of state pension funds into oil and gas companies which allegedly harm the environment constitutes a violation of plaintiffs’ rights under the New Jersey Civil Rights Act (“NJCRA”).  No. A-3083-22, 2024 WL 4601708 (N.J. Super. App. Div. Oct. 29, 2024).  In an unpublished opinion, the Court held that that the New Jersey Constitution does not guarantee a right to a stable environment and therefore the state’s investments did not violate Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.  Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Citizen Suit, Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Greenhouse Gas, New Jersey, New Jersey Civil Rights Act, Oil and Gas, Public Trust Doctrine

On January 3, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed a district court decision that held that a Colorado gold mining company’s operation of four settling ponds constituted an unpermitted discharge of pollutants into navigable waters under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”).  In Stone v. High Mountain Mining Company, No. 22-1340 (10th Cir. 2024), the Tenth Circuit held that the district court did not correctly follow the Supreme Court’s decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020) regarding the CWA’s applicability to indirect discharges to navigable waters. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Citizen Suit, Clean Water Act, NPDES, Tenth Circuit