A Big Stone Gap U.S. District Court says plaintiff environmental group has stated a claim under the Clean Water Act for redress against a mining operator for discharges from coal mine “gob piles,” as the CWA allows citizen enforcement suits. ...

Tagged with: Environmental Judge James P. Jones U.S. District Court - Western District

The Clean Water Act does not authorize the EPA to regulate the level a pollutant in Accotink Creek, a 25-mile long tributary of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, by establishing a total maximum daily load (TMDL) for the flow ...

Tagged with: Environmental Judge Liam O'Grady U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The 4th Circuit upholds a decision by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to eliminate from its 35-year-old project for preservation of the Lost River Subwatershed its plan to construct one of five dams, a decision challenged by seven owners ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Environmental Floyd County Circuit Court

Plaintiffs suing under the “citizens suit” provisions of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 have stated a claim for money damages by alleging defendant coal mining company has diminished and contaminated their water supplies and failed to ...

Tagged with: Environmental Judge James P. Jones U.S. District Court - Western District

Can you count on people to do the right thing when no one’s looking? Not necessarily, according to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Earlier this week, a 4th Circuit panel vacated an Army Corps of Engineers   permit that ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Environmental

The “Friends of Back Bay” win their challenge to a Clean Water permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers to a developer who wants to build a mooring facility and concrete boat ramp about 3,000 feet from the Back ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Environmental Judge Robert B. King

The 4th Circuit vacates summary judgment for state and federal highway agencies in North Carolina that approved construction of the “Monroe Connector Bypass,” a new 20-mile toll road linking Mecklenburg and Union Counties; the agencies violated the National Environmental Protection ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Environmental Judge Diana Gribbon Motz

In judicial review of a Consent Decree between plaintiff state and federal governments and defendant Hampton Roads Sanitation District covering sanitary sewer discharges that violated the Clean Water Act, the Norfolk U.S. District Court says HRSD may invoke the Consent ...

Tagged with: Environmental Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen U.S. District Court - Eastern District

The 4th Circuit dismisses an appeal by environmental and preservation organizations that challenge federal and state agencies’ planned improvements to Virginia’s Interstate 81 corridor under a tiered review process. Appellants challenged the plan by the Federal Highway Administration and the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Environmental Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

A county does not have to compensate the owners of a 165-acre “manufactured home” park for its contamination of groundwater by leachate and gas from an adjacent county landfill,  as the Supreme Court of Virginia says Virginia’s Oil Discharge Law ...

Tagged with: Environmental Justice Cynthia D. Kinser Supreme Court of Virginia