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 »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Agency Action, Citizen Suit, Energy, Fifth Circuit, Natural Gas, Oil and Gas, Permits, Standing, Texas

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

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 April 3^rd, the U.S. District Court of Colorado vacated the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (“USACE”) Record of Decision, Final Environmental Impact Statement, and approval of a dredge-and-fill permit for Denver Water’s expansion project of the Gross Dam and Reservoir in Colorado and remanded the matter back to the agency.  The Court temporarily enjoined Denver Water from continuing construction on the dam pending a hearing on what is “reasonable and necessary” to ensure that the dam will be structurally safe and issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the enlargement of the Gross Reservoir. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Procedures Act, Agency Action, Army Corps, Clean Water Act, Climate Change, Colorado, Injunction, NEPA, Permits, Water

The United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lake Charles Division, on August 22, 2024 issued an injunction barring the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) from enforcing regulations based on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 200d, et seq., in the State of Louisiana (the “State”). The ruling in State of Louisiana v. US Environmental Protection Agency, et al., No. 2:23-CV-00692, 2024 WL 3904868, at *1 (W.D. La. Aug. 22, 2024), effectively prohibits these federal agencies from implementing regulations that implicate Title VI’s disparate impact prohibition.   Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Air, Clean Air Act, Disparate Impact, Environmental Justice, Injunction, Louisiana, Permits, Rulemaking, Title VI

The Eleventh Circuit recently addressed the standing requirements for a procedural-rights claim, in this case one arising from an agency’s alleged failure to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”).  In a split 2-1 decision in Center for a Sustainable Coast v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the court held that standing to challenge an agency’s alleged violation of NEPA does not require a showing that a procedural do-over would necessarily redress a substantive injury. No. 22-11079, 2024 WL 1918733 (11^th Cir. May 2, 2024). Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Procedures Act, NEPA, Permits, Standing

In Kanawha Forest Coalition, et al. v. Keystone WV, 2:22-cv-00367, 2023 WL 6466210 (S.D. W.V. Oct. 4, 2023), the Honorable Joseph R. Goodwin of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, Charleston Division granted summary judgment against the operator of three defunct surface mines for past violations of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) and Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (“SMCRA”) but granted summary judgment in favor of the operator with regard to claims of ongoing permit violations, finding that the Plaintiffs’ theories constituted a collateral attack on validly-issued permits.  Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Citizens Suit, Clean Water Act, Mining, NPDES, Permits, Successor Liability, West Virginia

In an issue of first impression, in Matter of Proposed Construction of Compressor Station (CS327), No. A-3616-20, 2023 WL 5614411 (N. J. Super. Ct. Aug. 31, 2023), the New Jersey Superior Court rejected the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”)’s interpretation of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act (the “Highlands Act”) and found that a permittee’s project upgrade must be “routine” to be exempted from the strict permitting requirements of the Highlands Act. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Chevron Deference, Citizen Suit, New Jersey, Oil and Gas, Permits, Pipelines, Wetlands

This post was authored by Alice Douglas, with contributions from Summer Associate Reilly Wright 

On July 5, 2023, the United States Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved the largest offshore wind energy project to date—known as Ocean Wind 1—which will entail the construction of up to 98 wind turbines and up to 3 offshore substations off the coast of New Jersey over the next two years.  Ocean Wind 1, financed by the Danish company Orsted, is the third offshore wind energy project to gain approval by the Biden administration, following the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts and the South Fork Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island and New York, which are both currently under construction. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Procedures Act, Citizen Suit, Climate Change, Endangered Species Act, Energy, NEPA, Permits, Standing

When a public interest environmental rights group or other party appeals a decision by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection affecting a planned project, it should name the permittee as a party on the Notice of Appeal and serve them accordingly. On April 11, 2022, the Supreme Court of New Jersey remanded a case back to the Appellate Division and held that an appellant natural gas company should have been named as a party in the Notice of Appeal and served. See In re Proposed Constr. of Compressor Station (CS327), No. 086428 (Apr. 11, 2022). Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Appeals, Intervention, Natural Gas, New Jersey, Oil and Gas, Permits, Pipelines, Procedure, Standing