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Full-Text Articles in Law
Upper Missouri Waterkeeper V. Epa, Clare Ols
Upper Missouri Waterkeeper V. Epa, Clare Ols
Public Land & Resources Law Review
State water quality standards developed under the Clean Water Act play a key role in curtailing the negative environmental, economic, and human health impacts of water pollution. Under the state water quality regulatory framework, EPA may grant variances to state standards should the state demonstrate the compliance with its standards is infeasible for a certain pollutant discharger or waterbody. Montana DEQ developed a variance for nutrients based on evidence that compliance with those standards would cause economic harm. EPA approved Montana's nutrient pollutant variance, and Upper Missouri Waterkeeper challenged EPA's approval on the grounds that the variance violates the Clean …
Northern Plains Resource Council V. United States Army Corps Of Engineers, Liz M. Forster
Northern Plains Resource Council V. United States Army Corps Of Engineers, Liz M. Forster
Public Land & Resources Law Review
Environmental activist and indigenous rights groups have challenged the validity of the Keystone XL Pipeline since its initial approval in 2010. In April 2020, less than a month after crews broke ground, the opposing groups notched a major win when the United States District Court for the District of Montana revoked a key permit for the project on the grounds that the United States Army Corps of Engineers had inadequately assessed the pipeline’s impact on endangered species.
Hoopa Valley Tribe V. Ferc, Fredrick Aaron Rains
Hoopa Valley Tribe V. Ferc, Fredrick Aaron Rains
Public Land & Resources Law Review
In Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC, the Hoopa Valley Tribe challenged the intentional and continual delay of state water quality certification review of water discharged from a series of dams on the Klamath River in California and Oregon. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the states of Oregon and California, and PacifiCorp, a hydroelectric operator, were implementing an administrative scheme designed to circumvent a one-year temporal requirement for review imposed on states by the Clean Water Act. This scheme allowed PacifiCorp to operate the series of dams for over a decade without proper state water quality certification. The United States …
Natural Resources Defense Council V. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Erick A. Valencia
Natural Resources Defense Council V. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Erick A. Valencia
Public Land & Resources Law Review
In Natural Resources Defense Council v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, the court was asked to review the EPA’s Vessel General Permit that set limits on the discharge of pollutants in a ship’s ballast water. Ballast water discharge has become one of the major contributors to the spread of invasive species, especially in the Great Lakes where short voyages allow organisms to easily survive in ballast water. The EPA’s lack of information was a problem of its own making because it prohibited the Science Advisory Board and National Academy of Sciences from adequately exploring available technology before setting the effluent …