Eighth Circuit

A win for EPA on mountaintop removal

D.C. Circuit upholds Enhanced Coordination Process, refuses to review agency guidance

The D.C. Circuit has rejected a challenge to consultation procedures developed by the EPA and Corps of Engineers for reviewing mountaintop removal mining permits and to EPA’s guidance for reviewing permits issued by the Corps or state permitting agencies. Because it rests on standard administrative law, the decision shouldn’t merit comment. But it does, because …

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Junior appropriators can be cut off without a hearing

The Eighth Circuit has rejected a claim by farmers in Nebraska’s Niobrara Watershed that their civil rights were violated when the state’s Department of Natural Resources issued “Closing Notices” ordering them to stop drawing water. The farmers asserted that they were entitled to a due process hearing before the property rights granted by their state-issued …

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