OT 2012 and the Environment

This Supreme Court Term features a number of environmental cases.  We’re now about two-thirds of the way through the Term, so I thought it might be helpful to post a summary of the cases.  My impression is that the Court is interested in environmental law to the extent that it seems to impinge on the rights of individual property owners. But the Court doesn’t seem take much of an interest in risk regulation or air pollution, despite their importance for the economy and for public health. Anyway, here’s the list:

Case NameIssueArkansas Game & Fish Comm’n v. U.S.Takings clause – recurrent flooding, held to be potentially a taking.Decker v. Northwest Env. Def. Center,

Georgia-Pacific West v. Northwest Env. Def. Center

Clean Water Act, review of permitting rules, logging roads as point sourcesLA County Flood Dist. v. NRDCWater movement within same waterway is not a point source under the Clean Water ActKoontz v. St. John River Management Dist.Takings and permit conditions

Some non-environmental cases with possible relevance to environmental issues:

Clapper v. Amnesty Int’lStandingCable, Telecom, and Tech. v. FCCChevron doctrineMutual Pharm Co. v. BartlettPreemption