Articles Posted in Environmental Law

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that the City of Flint is not immune from the federal lawsuit pending against it following the infamous decision by public officials to save costs by switching the city's water supply to corrosive Flint River water that would be processed by an outdated water plant, sickening local residents as a result. Though the Court's decision dismissed three former state officials, it ruled that city officials were not immune, as the city's emergency management status had not made the city's water functions an "arm of the state."

Recently, an eight-justice U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on a case involving Mississippi gopher frogs, which are believed to be in danger of extinction and are limited to a small handful of habitats. To address this issue, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated 1,500 acres in Louisiana as a…

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit last week against the federal government, alleging they violated the Clean Water Act by allowing millions of gallons of raw sewage, heavy metals, and other contamination to routinely spill across the border from Tijuana into San Diego. According to the complaint, toxic water pollution from the Tijuana River Valley shut down San Diego beaches on more than 500 days in the past three years.

Thursday the Trump Administration announced a proposal to relax standards on car pollution. The proposal released jointly by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation would amend fuel efficiency and emissions standards for passenger cars and light trucks covering model years 2021 through 2026. The proposal also revokes a waiver for California that is now followed by a number of other states as well to let those states set more stringent pollution standards than the federal government.

State politicians believe that the chemicals may harm the coral reefs and marine ecosystems in Hawaii, a critical part of the state's economy. However, corporations and doctors have questioned the law's impact on consumer health.

Joined by 16 other states and the District of Columbia, the State of California has filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in an effort to prevent the federal agency from loosening its rules on auto emissions. The lawsuit argues both that the agency is violating the Clean Air Act through its proposed rule changes and that it is failing to follow its own regulations. Some observers believe that the agency's action might be a first step toward revoking the right of California and other states to set their own rules regarding auto emissions, which are believed to affect the proliferation of greenhouse gases and the process of global warming.

Campaign for Accountability (CfA), a watchdog group, filed a lawsuit this month against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the District of Columbia to demand the release of documents linked to the Tar Creek Superfund site, which is located in northeastern Oklahoma.