Wiley Veterans in Law: Hard-Hitting Reflections on Service, Challenges, and Advocacy
Environmental Agencies, Superfund Cleanups, and Managing Enforcement Actions
PFAS: Increasing Regulations and Managing Legal Liability
The Current and Future Landscapes of EPA Criminal and Civil Enforcement
Protecting Against Environmental Risks
[WEBINAR] Fairly (or Unfairly?) Traceable: Are Discharges Through Groundwater Subject to the Clean Water Act?
As our understanding of the environment and anthropogenic impact grows, protection efforts increasingly spawn regulation. Media coverage of perceived harms to health and the environment and well-funded advocacy by...more
On November 20, 2023, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Idaho Conservation League v. Poe, No. 22-35978. Therein, the Court upheld its previous interpretation of “discharged” in the context of...more
On November 21, 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Cottonwood Environmental Law Center vs. Edwards addressing various Clean Water Act issues. Its two key holdings were that (1) the district court...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued an October 2018 publication titled: Low Flow Statistics Tools – A How-To Handbook for NPDES Permit Writers (“Handbook”) - See EPA-833-B-18-001. EPA...more
My law firm colleague Jordan Wimpy undertook a presentation at the October 4th Arkansas Environmental Federation Annual Conference titled: Does a Discharge to Groundwater Require an NPDES Permit? (“Presentation”)...more
The Clean Water Act (CWA) is facing an identity crisis. In the past year, conflicting federal court decisions have created a circuit split as to whether the CWA regulates pollutant releases into groundwater that is...more
On September 24, 2018, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the Clean Water Act (CWA) does not require a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the discharges of pollutants to...more
In two opinions issued on September 24, 2018, the Sixth Circuit ruled that discharges of a pollutant to surface waters through groundwater do not require a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, pursuant to...more
A recent decision by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Hawai'i Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui) created a new standard for permitting under the Clean Water Act — one that captures discharges from point sources through...more
Unpermitted point source discharges that reach navigable waters indirectly, via groundwater, may lead to Clean Water Act (CWA) liability according to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (encompassing Maryland, Virginia, North...more
A Clean Water Act permit is required for discharging wastewater from injection wells into groundwater where wastewater is “fairly traceable” to navigable waters, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held in Hawai’i...more
On February 20, the Environmental Protection Agency published in the Federal Register a request for comments on a longstanding EPA policy regarding the question of whether and to what extent discharges to groundwater might be...more
A recent Ninth Circuit decision has expanded Clean Water Act (“CWA” or the “Act”) liability, holding that discharges to groundwater are actionable if there is a “fairly traceable” connection between the groundwater discharge...more
A recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers California, Oregon and several other western states, potentially extends Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction to require permits for point source discharges...more
On Feb. 1, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a highly anticipated decision in Hawai’i Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui, No. 15-17447 (9th Cir. Feb. 1, 2018). At issue was whether the County of Maui...more
The Clean Power Plan (“CPP”), and its companion new source review rule, is the Obama Administration’s signature regulation on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Among other things, it requires states to put...more
U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Whether Jurisdictional Determinations May be Appealed - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers determines the presence or absence of wetlands and other “waters of the United States” on a...more