Key Takeaways -
What Happened? On May 3, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its proposal to revise the Clean Air Act’s (CAA) New Source Review (NSR) preconstruction permitting program...more
Key Takeaways -
• What Is Happening? On March 14, 2024, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a final rule requiring certain facilities to develop Facility Response Plans (FRPs) for a potential worst-case...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency), on November 27, 2023, released its draft guidance addressing its proposed interpretation to apply the Supreme Court decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund,...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (together, the Agencies) issued a straight-to-final-rule revised definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) on August 29, 2023. This...more
On May 25, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Sackett v. EPA, No. 21-454, holding that Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction extends to wetlands only if they have a continuous surface connection to...more
On August 25, 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved the Advanced Clean Cars II rule (Rule), requiring all new vehicles sold in California to be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by 2035. Governor Gavin Newsom...more
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ’s) policy and rulemaking board adopted rules renewing Oregon’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Stormwater Discharge General Permit No. 1200-Z (1200-Z...more
Key Takeaways -
• What Is Happening? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the 2021 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) for stormwater discharges...more
EPA’s recent draft guidance memorandum on applying the Supreme Court’s decision in County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020), provides little clarity for determining when a release to groundwater is the...more
Public water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities face an array of compliance obligations under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) that require investment in upgrades and maintenance of critical wastewater infrastructure....more
The U.S. Supreme Court held today, in a much-anticipated ruling, that the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) requirement to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, can apply to certain releases of...more
4/27/2020
/ Appeals ,
Clean Water Act ,
Direct Discharge ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Functional Equivalent ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Navigable Waters ,
Permits ,
Point Sources ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Vacated ,
Waters of the United States
In an order with serious and immediate national implications for the construction of pipelines, electrical lines, fiber optic cable, and other utility projects, a Montana federal court has vacated Clean Water Act (CWA)...more
Key Takeaways -
• What Happened: On April 10, 2020, EPA issued a memo, Interim Guidance on Site Field Work Decisions Due to Impacts of COVID-19, that outlines considerations for reconciling remediation schedules with the...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published for public comment its proposed 2020 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP), which authorizes stormwater discharges...more
On November 26, a federal district court judge in Massachusetts held that releases of pollutants reaching surface waters through groundwater do not require permits under the Clean Water Act (CWA), “irrespective of any...more
The Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument in County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, No. 18-260, a case in which the justices will decide a key jurisdictional issue under the Clean Water Act (CWA): whether...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari on a critical question affecting the scope of the Clean Water Act (CWA): whether releases of pollutants require National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits...more
On December 3, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court requested the federal government’s views on two petitions for certiorari asking the Court to decide whether the Clean Water Act (CWA) regulates releases of pollutants that reach...more
On August 16, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina issued a nationwide injunction on a Trump administration rule that has been preventing the 2015 rule that revised the definition of “waters of the...more
On Monday, divided panels of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a pair of decisions holding that Clean Water Act (“CWA”) Section 301’s prohibition on unpermitted discharges does not apply to pollutants...more
Earlier this year, the Fourth and Ninth Circuits decided a pair of cases that have the potential to greatly expand the scope of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program under the Clean Water...more
On February 1, 2018, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, 886 F.3d 737 (9th Circ. 2018), that has the potential to greatly expand the scope of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System...more
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California gave environmental groups a significant win in their bid to force EPA to regulate new sources of stormwater discharges under the Clean Water Act...more
If the first two months of 2018 are any indication, events to play out over the rest of the year will have a major impact on what constitutes a “discharge” subject to regulation under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act (CWA)....more
On February 1, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision that has the potential to sweep regulated groundwater discharges that reach surface waters, and similarly remote-in-place discharge situations, into the Clean Water Act’s...more