[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On November 20, with no fanfare at all, not even a press release, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its Draft Guidance: Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) is issuing for public comment draft guidance on applying the United States Supreme Court decision in County of Maui vs. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. EPA had previously...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced release of its Draft Guidance Regarding NPDES Permitting of Certain Discharges through Groundwater to Surface Waters (Draft Guidance) on Nov. 20, 2023, notice of which...more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
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday EPA issued draft guidance regarding when a discharge of a “pollutant” to groundwater is the “functional equivalent” of a discharge to a Water of the United States requiring a NPDES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
In last year’s Land Use, Environmental & Natural Resources Update 2021 Update, we reported on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund (County of Maui), 590 U.S. __; 140 S. Ct. 2778 (2020),...more
The latest season of Clean Water Act (CWA) changes are now streaming from the courts and federal agencies. The Biden administration and lower courts have picked up where prior administrations and the U.S. Supreme Court left...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) rescinded a guidance document it had previously issued titled: Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean Water Act...more
In an ACOEL blog posted on July 27, 2021, Seth Jaffe expressed his support for the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in the Maui case and the subsequent ruling by the District Court. In Maui, the Supreme Court held that an...more
The United States District Court (District of Hawaii) (“Court”) addressed in a July 15th Order the question of whether a Maui County (“County”) wastewater discharge facility (“Facility”) should have obtained a Clean Water Act...more
Last week, District Judge Susan Mollway ruled that the County of Maui must obtain a NPDES permit for discharges to groundwater by the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility. It is the first trial court decision applying the...more
In a ruling July 15, U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway ordered Maui County to obtain a permit under the Clean Water Act (CWA) consistent with the analysis established by the Supreme Court’s April 2020 ruling that...more
Late yesterday, Federal Judge Susan Oki Mollway, of the District of Hawaii, ruled that the County of Maui needs a Federal Clean Water Act NPDES permit for its groundwater discharge of treated water from its waste water...more
Section 402 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) prohibits the discharge of any pollutant from any point source to navigable waters (“Waters of the United States” or “WOTUS”) unless authorized by a permit (Section 402 NPDES Permits)....more
Late last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a draft guidance intended to assist regulated entities and permitting authorities in applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in County of Maui, Hawaii v....more
Draft guidance from the US Environmental Protection Agency provides a clearer look at how the agency intends to apply the US Supreme Court's "functional equivalent" analysis to determine when National Pollutant Discharge...more
On Tuesday, December 8, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Draft Guidance Memorandum attempting to place the recent Supreme Court decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund “into context...more
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published notice of draft guidance (the “Draft Guidance”) intended to assist regulated entities and permitting authorities in applying the United States Supreme Court’s...more
On December 8, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released a draft guidance memorandum (“Draft Guidance”) to provide guidance to the regulated community and permitting authorities, including the EPA, on...more
On December 8, 2020, U.S. EPA announced issuance of draft guidance to clarify its view of how the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund decision should be applied to its Clean Water Act National...more
On December 12, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) issued draft guidance to clarify the application of the “functional equivalent” test created by the United States Supreme Court in County...more
Jamie Ewing (Environmental Assessment Director, Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority), Allan Gates and Jordan Wimpy (Mitchell Williams Law Firm) undertook an Arkansas Environmental Federation webinar presentation on May...more
The Washington State Attorney General (“AG”) filed on May 7th a Complaint in the United States District Court (Eastern District of Washington) against Crown Resources Corporation and Kinross Gold for alleged violations of the...more