City of Fairbanks Seeks Supreme Court Review of Ninth Circuit’s Decision Regarding the ‘Finality’ of Clean Water Act Jurisdictional Determinations July 2009

Recent Ninth Circuit Decision Invites Regulated Community to Roll the Dice—Holds Determination of CWA Jurisdiction Does Not Constitute ‘Final Agency Action’. December 2008

News from the West November 2008

Ninth Circuit Rules Approved Wetlands Jurisdictional Determination by Corps Not Final Agency Action under APA and Not Reviewable October 2008

Ninth Circuit Holds Application of Pesticides to a River Does Not Require a NPDES Permit November 2005

Washington’s Pollution Control Hearings Board Limits Transferability of Groundwater Rights December 2003

State Actions: Colorado Supreme Court Looks to Water Amount Diverted and Acreage to Determine if Water Right Change Has Impermissibly Enlarged July 2002

Second District Holds California Coastal Commission Properly Considered Coastal View in Deciding Permit Application August 2009

District Court Grants Motions to Dismiss Third- Party Defendants under RCRA, where Complainants Had No Standing and Indemnity Agreements Precluded Claims June 2005

Second District Court Rejects Second Challenge to Los Angeles’ Approval of a General Plan April 2005

Shippers, U.S. EPA, States and Environmental Groups Remain at Odds over Ballast Water Rules, Invasive Species Efforts, and Permits January 2009

Important Commerce Clause and State Jurisdictional Issues Raised in Suit Challenging Michigan Ballast Law June 2007

Sixth Circuit Upholds Michigan’s Ballast Water Statute February 2009

Ninth Circuit Denies Appeal Challenging Government Approach to Feral Animal Population as Moot March 2008

California Energy Commission’s Decision to Approve a Power Plant Did Not Become Ripe for Judicial Challenge Until 30 Days after the Decision Was Filed with Its Docket Unit October 2003

Fifth District Finds Late Filed Request for CEQA Hearing Does Not Cure Failure to Meet Deadline—Even if Filed Prior to Motion to Dismiss June 2007

Ninth Circuit Reconsiders Constitutionality of "Innovative" Municipal Ordinance Designed to Remedy Hazardous Waste Contamination October 2002

U.S. District Court Finds City of Lodi’s Environmental Cleanup Ordinance Is Preempted by CERCLA and Partially Invalid February 2004

Eighth Circuit Lacks Jurisdiction to Review EPA Opinion Letter that Restates Existing Law September 2004

Second District Finds Ventura County’s Decision to Deny Subdivision Map Act Certificates of Compliance Supported by Substantial Evidence December 2005

District Court Holds CERCLA Preempts Alabama’s Rule of Repose December 2007

Eleventh Circuit Upholds Flood Irrigation Practice under Clean Water Act Agricultural Exemption October 2002

District Court Holds Jurisdictional Prerequisites for CWA Citizen Suit Include Notice Letter to Allege the Same Claims as Complaint February 2009

Eleventh Circuit Holds Florida Strict Liability Statute Did Not Preclude Personal Injury Suit for Damages from Wastewater Treatment Plant July 2007

Eleventh Circuit holds Florida’s Strict Liability Statute Did Not Preclude Personal Injury Suit for Contamination Damages June 2007

Eleventh Circuit Finds Florida’s Deptartment of Environmental Protection Failed to Follow Its Own Procedures to Amend Water Quality Standards November 2002

Scripps Research Facility Project in Florida Delayed by Environmental Issues Related to Coastal Development February 2006

Environmentalists Sue EPA to Force Development of Numeric Nutrient Criteria for Florida Waters October 2008

Third District Finds Subdivision Map Act’s Statute of Limitations Applies to Challenge Conditions on Proposed Development May 2007

Eighth Circuit Holds Res Judicata and Collateral Estoppel Preclude Plaintiffs’ Relitigation of U.S. EPA’s Entitlement to Its CERCLA Judgment August 2008

Sixth District Upholds General Plan’s Housing Element Despite Findings by Department of Housing that Plan Did Not Comply with Housing Element Law May 2007

East Bay Municipal Utility District Sued on ‘Water Supply Management Program 2040’ January 2010

District Court Finds Ford Allowed Cleanup Recovery Pursuant to a Corrective Action Consent Order under CERCLA Section December 2009

Federal Circuit Allows CERCLA Recovery from U.S. Military under War Contract October 2004

Massachusetts Court finds Property Owner Legitimately Charged More for Water Usage Because He Failed to Allow Access to Water Meters February 2009

Oregon Supreme Court Upholds Decision on Water Rights Ownership in Favor of Irrigation Districts February 2009

Oregon Supreme Court to Decide if Landowner Is Entitled to Pursue Water Rights Transfer without Irrigation District Consent June 2008

Oregon Court Resolves Question of Water Right Ownership in Favor of Irrigation Districts October 2007

District Court Denies Right to a Jury Trial in Action under State Hazardous Sites Clean-Up Act September 2005

Third Circuit Finds Additional Damages for Successful Litigant in CERCLA Action Would Result in a Windfall August 2009

First Circuit Denies Hydroelectric Operator’s Petition to Review Stay of Order Granting New Operating License where State Rescinded CWA Water Quality Certification February 2009

Sixth Circuit Holds Party that Failed To Act with Due Care To Stop Contamination from Migrating Not an Innocent Landowner April 2001

Rhode Island Supreme Court Reviews Economic Loss Doctrine in Claim against Consultant that Caused Wetlands Damage February 2008

New York District Court Rules that Cost Cap Policy Covers All Investigation and Remediation Costs Required by EPA. September 2004

District Court Finds Allegation of Ongoing Violation Is Not Specific Enough to Bring Citizen Suit under the Clean Air Act September 2005

The Latest Chapter in the Saga of Frey v. EPA and CERCLA Plays Out in the District Court of Indiana May 2008

Southern District of Indiana Holds that CERCLA Remedy Cannot Be Challenged under Other Environmental Laws December 2006

District Court Addresses Allocation of Recovery Proceeds Received by PRP in Determining Proper Credit Due Defendants in PRP’s CERCLA Contribution Claim March 2008

Third Circuit Holds CERCLA Potentially Responsible Party that Previously Recovered All of Its Cleanup Costs from Its Insurers Cannot Recover from other PRPs August 2009

First District Court Finds Defects in Signatures to Association’s Referendum Petition Cannot Be Cured by Declaration of Petition Circular February 2008

First District Finds City Did Not Abuse Discretion by Finding Project Consistent with Applicable Plans or by Awarding Density Bonus Beyond that Required by Law October 2007

District Court Finds Corps’ Failure to Conduct EIS Not Fatal to Its Issuance of Wetlands Dredge and Fill Permit August 2007

Seventh Circuit Holds Clean Water Act Citizen’s Suit Barred on Res Judicata Grounds by Subsequently Initiated State Settlement April 2009

Clean Water Act Citizen Suits and Preclusion Due to State Action—District Court Bars Claims on Res Judicata Grounds on Written Stipulation between State and Agency February 2008

Ninth Circuit Requires New Mining Source to Meet Loading and Water Quality Standards of Impaired Waterbody before EPA Can Issue NPDES Permit December 2007

News from the West December 2007

Fourth District Court Rules Subdivision Map Act’s 90-Day Service of Summons Requirement Applies to CEQA Causes of Action January 2009

California Supreme Court Holds that a Public Agency Generated Initiative is Not Exempt from the Requirements of CEQA May 2001

Georgia Court Overturns State Permit for Coal-Fired Power Plant for Failing to Include Analysis of Controls for Greenhouse Gas Emissions August 2008

Georgia Supreme Court Let’s Stand Longleaf Decision Striking Down Co2 Emissions Limits for New Coal-Fired Power Plant November 2009

EPA’s Latest TMDL Guidance on Daily Loads May Limit the Impact of the ‘Daily’ Issue Stemming from Friends of the Earth v. EPA March 2008

EPA’s TMDL Guidance Following the D.C. and Second Circuit Split over the Meaning of ‘Daily’ November 2006

District of Columbia Circuit Finds that under the Clean Water Act, the Word ‘Daily’ Actually Means Daily June 2006

Court of Appeal: Court of Appeal Finds Sonoma County Water Agency's EIR Deficient in Relation to the Eel River July 2003

Backpumping into Lake Okeechobee on Trial in United States District Court March 2006

The Clean Water Act 2009: Mid-Year Report August 2009

Eleventh Circuit Upholds Unitary Waters Theory— Finds Such Water Transfers Do Not Require an NPDES Permit under the Clean Water Act July 2009

Eleventh Circuit Charts a New Course on Water Transfers—What About the Water Transfer Rule? July 2009

Adrift in the Water: Key Provisions of the Water Quality Program Remain Untethered January 2008

Back Into Florida Waters: Federal District Court Finds Lake Okeechobee Backpumping Requires Clean Water Act NPDES Permit February 2007

California Supreme Court Decertifies Friends of the Kangaroo Rat v. Department of Corrections April 2004

Win Some. Lose Some. Will It Ever End? The War over Water Supply in the Santa Clarita Valley April 2005

California Court of Appeal Holds that Urban Water Management Plan Is Invalid for Failing to Adequately Address Perchlorate Contamination November 2004

Court Rules Castaic Lake Water Agency Can Continue Purchasing Kern County Water December 2002

California Supreme Court Declines to Visit Castaic Lake Decision which Struck Down EIR for Water Transfer June 2002

Fifth District Concludes Property Transfer Is Not a CEQA Project in the Absence of Known, Imminent Development Plans April 2007

Ninth Circuit Mandates Increased Compliance with Section 303(d) of Clean Water Act and Upholds Temporary Ban on New Permits until TMDLs Are Established October 2003

Expiration of Approved Tentative Map Is Not Automatically Stayed During Pending Litigation June 2003

National Parks Service’s Comprehensive Management Plan for Merced River once again Deemed Inadequate July 2008

National Parks Service’s Comprehensive Management Plan for Merced River Once Again Deemed Inadequate June 2008

The Merced River Litigation: Exploring the Federal Wild and Scenic Rivers Act July 2002

Ninth Circuit Halts Implementation of the Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Management Plan June 2004

Ninth Circuit Sets Aside Merced River Management Plan, May Result in Limited Access to Yosemite Park December 2003

Third District Finds Parcel Map Is Not Official Government Survey; Is Subject to Impeachment November 2005

District Court Finds Municipalities’ Denial of Water Bottling Permit Did Not Offend Constitution—Actions Did Not ‘Shock the Conscience’ November 2007

District Court Confirms that a Party to a CERCLA Consent Decree Is Not Subject to a Cross Complaint for Contribution January 2010

Ninth Circuit Upholds Denial of Attorney's Fees Award in RCRA Case, Finding that Catalyst Theory of Recovery Inufficient in Face of Supreme Court Decision June 2003