By: Alexander J. Bandza

As part of the "Environmental & Energy Cert. Petition Watch" project, in the past several weeks, the following EHS-related petitions have been filed, denied, or granted. For a full list of EHS-related cert. petitions submitted from August 2013 through the present (as of June 15, 2014), click here.

I. FILED

Louisiana v. BP Exploration & Production, Inc., No. 13-1424

Lower Court: 5th Cir.

Subject: Clean Water Act

Question(s) Presented: In enacting the Clean Water Act, did Congress intend to strip the States of the ability to punish harm to their wildlife resulting from oil spills?

II. DENIED

Village of Hobart v. Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin, No. 13-847

Lower Court: 7th Cir.

Subject: Clean Water Act

Question(s) Presented: (1.) Whether Congress' waiver of the federal government's sovereign immunity, under § 313(a) of the CWA, for enforcement of local stormwater management ordinances, for "any property" over which it has "jurisdiction," applies to land taken into trust pursuant to 25 U.S.C. § 465. (2.) Whether lands acquired by an Indian tribe pursuant to 25 U.S.C. § 465 within its former reservation boundaries are removed from state jurisdiction because, as the Seventh Circuit ruled, they are reclassified as "Indian Country."

III. GRANTED

(None.)