Sam Hess of Inside EPA and many others are writing about EPA's Halloween Trick or Treat – the publication of a draft Clean Water Act NPDES General Permit that would apply to “commercial, industrial and institutional”...more
Today the United States Supreme Court heard from lawyers representing the City and County of San Francisco and lawyers for the United States Environmental Protection Agency on the question of whether a “narrative standard”...more
Judge Boyle of the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina has denied the Pacific Legal Foundation's client an injunction against EPA's and the Corps of Engineers' most recent Waters of the United...more
Several “red” states and three energy industry NGOs have filed a motion for summary judgment in their Louisiana Federal Court challenge to EPA's 2023 rule regarding the state water quality certifications required under...more
As predicted in February, our nation's highest court is about to hear its third Clean Water Act in four years. Anyone who doubts the outcome of this case hasn't read the other two Supreme Court opinions and that brings to...more
5/29/2024
/ Appeals ,
Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
NPDES ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Storm Water ,
Wastewater ,
Water Quality ,
Waters of the United States
EPA issued a press release yesterday that caught my eye and if you're in the business of building things, including solar projects, it is worthy of your attention too. The press release announces a settlement between a solar...more
5/23/2024
/ Clean Water Act ,
Department of Environmental Protection ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Penalties ,
Pollution Control ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Solar Energy ,
Storm Water ,
Water ,
Waters of the United States
This week our nation's highest court was scheduled to discuss whether to hear the City and County of San Francisco's appeal of a split Ninth Circuit decision upholding an EPA NPDES permit issued to the City and County...more
Sam Hess of Inside EPA has a fulsome report on EPA's everything but the kitchen sink attempt to avoid a nationwide freeze of its most recent definition of Waters of the United States in litigation filed by a North Carolina...more
5/13/2024
/ Clean Water Act ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Navigable Waters ,
NGOs ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
We're approaching the first anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Sackett v. EPA holding that, contrary to the view of EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers for the past 40 years, the Clean Water Act protects only...more
EPA picked another Clean Water Act fight with the United States Supreme Court last week and I don't understand why EPA thinks it is a fight it can win. As many of you know, the jurisdictional reach of the Clean Water Act is...more
Law 360 is reporting on yesterday's hearing in the United States' litigation against the State of Texas to cause the removal of an unpermitted “marine barrier” placed by the State of Texas in the Rio Grande River. Putting...more
Garry Lewis owns 2000 acres in Livingston Parish, Louisiana and he has been fighting with the Army Corps of Engineers over whether any of those 2000 acres are wetlands subject to Federal Clean Water Act jurisdiction for over...more
You may have thought the movie Oppenheimer would be the only blockbuster involving Los Alamos, New Mexico this year. But now EPA has invoked its rarely used Residual Designation Authority under section 402 of the Clean Water...more
When EPA published its most recent rule specifying the role of States and Tribes in the Federal permitting of discharges into Waters of the United States, I predicted it was only a matter of time before we'd see another...more
12/7/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Water Act ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Louisiana ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 401 ,
Tribal Governments ,
Trump Administration ,
Water Quality ,
Waters of the United States
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday EPA issued draft guidance regarding when a discharge of a “pollutant” to groundwater is the “functional equivalent” of a discharge to a Water of the United States requiring a NPDES permit...more
11/28/2023
/ Clean Water Act ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
New Guidance ,
NPDES ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Waste Treatment Facilities ,
Waters of the United States
When EPA and the Corps of Engineers published their tenth attempt to determine the reach of the Federal Clean Water Act, I said the only question remaining was how many of the States and NGOs who challenged EPA's and the...more
Law 360 is reporting this morning on an NGO petition to the Army Corps of Engineers demanding that it not apply a Nationwide Permit covering the construction of "pipelines that transport water, sewage, and ‘other substances’”...more
EPA is publishing its final rule specifying the role of States and Tribes in the Federal licensing or permitting of activities that may result in a "discharge" into a "Water of the United States". Like EPA's recent tenth...more
Sam Hess of Inside EPA reports that EPA and the Corps of Engineers are going to apply their tenth, post-Sackett, attempt to define Waters of the United States only in the states and territories that aren't subject to...more
Sam Hess's report in Inside EPA paints a nuanced picture of the apparently never ending controversy over the reach of the Clean Water Act. I can't help but offer a few reactions....more
Ahead of schedule, yesterday EPA and the US Army Corps of Engineers published their tenth attempt to specify the reach of the Federal Clean Water Act. The only question now is will its opponents file amended complaints in...more
8/30/2023
/ Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Jurisdiction ,
Navigable Waters ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Surface Water ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
Last week the Waters Advocacy Coalition sent to the heads of the Environmental Protection Administration and the Corps of Engineers many "recommendations" regarding EPA's and the Corps' post-Sackett attempt to determine the...more
I'm surprised to see the Biden Administration EPA moving forward right now with a rule proposed during the Trump Administration to allow states to take over responsibility for the permitting of "dredge and fill" activities...more
7/20/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Center for Biological Diversity ,
Clean Water Act ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Dredge and Fill ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Proposed Rules ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 404 ,
Trump Administration ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
This week Massachusetts Federal District Court Judge Richard Stearns dismissed two counts of the Conservation Law Foundation's and Charles River Watershed Association's lawsuit against EPA and stayed until September of next...more
Inside EPA reports that EPA Assistant Administrator Radhika Fox has told Congress that we can expect a new Waters of the United States regulation in September. Assistant Administrator Fox promises that the new regulation...more