Articles

As recounted on this blog yesterday, the Supreme Court has ruled, consistent with EPA’s position but contrary to the environmental community, that “channelized” stormwater runoff from logging roads does not require a Clean Water Act permit.  The decision in Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center was 7 to 1 (Justice Bre ...

So argues the Sierra Club, et al., in an intent-to-sue letter sent to the BNSF Railway and others.  The environmental groups contend that the railroad’s cars discharge coal dust and other pollutants into various waterways.  I’m not familiar with any decision expressly holding that train cars are point sources (a necessary element to l ...

An important tool that the government and environmental groups use to sue landowners for alleged and long-ago discharges of pollution under the Clean Water Act is the so-called “continuing violation” doctrine. As its name implies, the doctrine teaches that, under certain circumstances, a wrongful act that is not remedied continues in ti ...