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June 30, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 29 denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by three environmental nonprofits and a fish and wildlife biologist asking for review of the scope of a Clean Water Act (CWA) exemption for agricultural return flows following an appellate panel’s affirmation of an order holding that discharges from the tile-drain system of a federal water management and environmental restoration project that serves irrigated farmland in California’s Central Valley fall under that exemption.
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June 30, 2026
OXFORD, Miss. — The United States filed a motion “to intervene as of right as a plaintiff and to dismiss” a federal lawsuit filed by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People against xAI Corp. and an energy infrastructure affiliate under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and state permitting laws over construction and operation of dozens of gas combustion turbines that power a Memphis, Tenn., data center, contending that the suit could threaten national security, as well as “artificial intelligence innovation, plus the energy needed to power it.”
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June 30, 2026
SEATTLE — A Washington state-based food manufacturing company has agreed to implement stormwater compliance measures and pay $900,000 for an environmental benefit project and litigation costs to settle a federal lawsuit filed by an environmental nonprofit alleging that the company violated the Clean Water Act and the terms of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit by discharging polluted stormwater into navigable waters surrounding its facility in Kent.
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June 30, 2026
DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel reversed and remanded a New Mexico federal judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the United States challenging a state agency’s definition of hazardous waste in a renewed permit issued to the Cannon Air Force Base (AFB). The panel held that the judge erred in ruling that the case had to be heard in the New Mexico Court of Appeals and was wrong to decline to hear the case because of a related state court proceeding.
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June 26, 2026
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — In a chemical exposure case brought by residents against the town of Brookhaven related to its operation of a landfill, a New York appellate panel has ruled that the federal discovery rule under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) preempts New York’s toxic tort statute of limitations even though the landfill in question is not a Superfund site. As a result, the panel affirmed a trial court decision that denied the town’s motion to dismiss the case.
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June 24, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In denying a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Georgia-based refrigerant producer, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a constitutional nondelegation challenge to the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act of 2020 and the Environmental Protection Agency’s implementation of the act through a final rule allocating allowances for the production and consumption of synthetic chemical refrigerants that have been linked to global warming.
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June 22, 2026
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A California federal judge granted the United States’ motion to intervene as a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree) challenging a partnership agreement between the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and major manufacturers of trucks and engines requiring the manufacturers to meet California's strict heavy duty truck-emissions regulations, regardless of federal legal challenges, in exchange for more flexibility and regulatory lead time.
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June 19, 2026
FORT WAYNE, Ind. — An Indiana federal judge largely refused to exclude plaintiffs’ experts’ testimony in a long-running groundwater contamination lawsuit against RTX Corp. and other defendants, while barring a psychiatrist from opining on the reasonableness of the plaintiffs’ emotional distress.
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June 17, 2026
SANTA ANA, Calif. — As lawsuits continue to mount against GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems Inc. related to a May chemical incident involving methyl methacrylate (MMA) at its Orange County, Calif., facility, more residents have filed a putative class action in California state court alleging gross negligence related to the endangerment of public health stemming from the incident.
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June 15, 2026
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A South Carolina federal judge granted partial summary judgment to several community groups and cities on remand, finding that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to terminate a series of environmental grants that aimed to help disadvantaged communities address climate challenges and ongoing pollution was unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and vacating “guidance documents” that shut down the grant program.
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June 15, 2026
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — An Ohio federal judge has lifted a stay, permitting a magistrate judge to rule on pending motions challenging the admissibility of experts in Ohio’s lawsuit against the operator of the train that derailed in 2023 and spilled toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. Meanwhile, intervenors filed a complaint challenging a $311,175,000 proposed consent decree that would resolve some of the claims in the case, arguing that the decree is based on a “fundamentally false factual premise” about the remaining risks posed by contamination.
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June 10, 2026
PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon ruled that a group of residents “sufficiently stated” claims against the Port of Morrow and several agricultural companies over their alleged roles in the contamination of groundwater in the Lower Umatilla Basin in violation of state law and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), finding that each defendant could have contributed to the alleged contamination and could be jointly liable.
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June 05, 2026
SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the dismissal of a climate change lawsuit filed by a group of minors and young adults against President Donald J. Trump and a litany of federal officials over a series of executive orders designed to increase fossil fuel production, holding that they lacked Article III standing because their alleged injuries were too speculative to be traced to the orders and the relief they sought was beyond the constitutional powers of the court.
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June 05, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States contends that the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the U.S. Constitution preclude the notion that a single state can “dictate how the entire country—let alone the world—addresses a global problem with indivisible global effects” in support of a group of oil and gas companies asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a state high court ruling that federal law did not prohibit two Colorado municipalities’ state law claims alleging that the companies contributed to the effects of climate change.
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June 04, 2026
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An environmental advocacy group filed a federal lawsuit pursuant to the Clean Water Act (CWA) against the operator of a California structural building materials manufacturer, alleging that for years it has failed to properly manage and monitor stormwater runoff in violation of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit.
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June 04, 2026
MIAMI — In another federal suit involving the development of a Florida immigration detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” an environmental nonprofit alleges that the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) failed to obtain a required permit under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to support the construction and operation of “a fleet of large diesel-burning generator sets for electrical power, diesel-burning lighting towers, and other air-polluting equipment and activities” at the site.
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June 04, 2026
SPOKANE, Wash. — A Canadian aftermarket wheel and tire distributor, its operating company and two associated individual plaintiffs agreed to pay $700,000 in civil penalties and to stop selling and distributing emissions control defeat products in the United States to settle a complaint filed by the government in a Washington state federal court alleging Clean Air Act (CAA) violations.
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June 03, 2026
SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington held that the court lacks jurisdiction and granted summary judgment to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in a lawsuit brought by several states alleging the government unlawfully terminated a series of grants designed to bring solar energy and cost savings to low-income residents.
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June 02, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 1 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a Connecticut farmland owner seeking review of an order that held him liable for remediation of his property after he violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by filling in wetlands without a permit.
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June 02, 2026
SANTA ANA, Calif. — Residents who live within 0.4 miles of the site of “a hazardous materials emergency” that occurred at a California aerospace manufacturing site filed a class action complaint against the owners and operators of the facility in federal court alleging claims including negligence, trespass, nuisance and strict liability for ultrahazardous activity after they were forced to evacuate due to potential threats to their health and safety.
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May 27, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Contending that a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals majority’s holdings “are inconsistent with basic principles of administrative and environmental law,” the U.S. Air Force urges the U.S. Supreme Court in a petitioner brief to reverse the majority’s ruling overturning the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a Guam-based nonprofit corporation, under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), that challenged the agency’s decision to engage in hazardous waste disposal at Tarague Beach.
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May 19, 2026
POCATELLO, Idaho — The remaining two defendants named in a federal lawsuit filed by the United States seeking reimbursement of response costs incurred for cleanup of hazardous materials under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act at a shuttered Idaho industrial site stemming from the demolition of two buildings damaged by fire in a pair of proposed May 18 consent decrees agreed to pay a total of $360,000 to settle the claims, with one defendant set to pay significantly less than the other due to financial constraints.
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May 19, 2026
LEVERKUSEN, Germany — Bayer AG on May 18 announced settlements with Michigan and Rhode Island for potential claims by the states related to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) pollution. The settlements have a combined total minimum payment of $133 million, with the possibility of additional contingent payments tied to an indemnity lawsuit that Monsanto Co. filed against companies that it says agreed to cover certain liabilities from PCBs.
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May 18, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 18 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a uranium processing company and its former owner asking the court to decide whether radiation-dose regulations for nuclear incidents provide the exclusive standard of care in public liability actions pursuant to the Price-Anderson Act (PAA).
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May 18, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of oil and gas companies sued by two Colorado municipalities for alleged contributions to climate change urge the U.S. Supreme Court in a petitioner brief to reverse a state supreme court holding that federal law did not prohibit the cities’ state law claims, arguing that the decision was “incompatible with the structure of our constitutional system, the Clean Air Act [CAA], and this Court’s precedents.”