A United States District Court (Idaho) (“Court”) in an August 29th Memorandum Decision and Order (“Order”) addressed an issue arising out of a federal government Clean Water Act enforcement action. See U.S. v. Ace Black...more
Welcome to the August edition of Nutter’s Environment & Energy Insights, a monthly update of current trends in environment and energy law. This month we cover: EPA’s new Facility Response Plan requirements for potential...more
The 74th General Assembly of the State of Colorado has enacted House Bill 24-1379 which is described as: …concerning the regulation of state waters in response to recent federal court action and, in connection therewith,...more
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) Vicksburg District issued a May 29th Special Public Notice (“SPN”) styled: Vicksburg District Regulatory Update - ...more
The U.S. Supreme Court significantly reduced the scope of Clean Water Act regulation over wetlands last year in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. Originally Published in Law360. ...more
The environmental organization Earthjustice has developed charts that provide the organization’s views on the impact of the United States Supreme Court decision Sackett v. EPA on the scope of the Clean Water Act term waters...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
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
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) on March 22, 2024, announced its plans for enhancing the protection of the country's wetlands following the U.S. Supreme Court's Sackett v. EPA decision. In Sackett, the Supreme Court...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
Last August, when EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers published their tenth attempt to determine the jurisdictional reach of the Clean Water Act, the Agencies said that regulation involved no exercise of discretion because it...more
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Sackett case in May of 2023, the U.S. EPA (“EPA”) and the U.S. Army Corps (“Army Corps”) have amended federal regulations to conform to Sackett and the Army Corps has resumed...more
In the decision Sackett v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court provided a clear statement regarding what wetlands are subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act, holding that the Clean Water Act “extends to only those wetlands...more
Just before the holidays I wrote about three Judges of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals who decided, over the Army Corps of Engineers' objection, to apply the Supreme Court's Sackett test for determining whether something...more
Earlier this month, in Lewis v. United States the 5th Circuit issued a decision interpreting the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA. The 5th Circuit decision is a model of clarity and demonstrates what I’ll call the...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
One hundred eighteen Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives (“House”) introduced legislation titled: Clean Water Act of 2023(H.R. 5983) The stated purpose of H.R. 5983 is to address the...more
The third major development of 2023 for defining "Waters of the United States" ("WOTUS") has arrived. First, in early 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") and the United States Army Corps of...more
Ranking members from both the United States House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment prepared an analysis titled: Murky Water: Navigating...more
The United States Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works held an October 18th hearing titled: Examining the Implications of Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for Clean Water Act Protections of Wetlands...more
On September 8, U.S. EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers published a final conforming rule amending the definition of “waters of the United States” in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Sackett decision....more
As KJK has previously covered, earlier this year, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) delivered a landmark ruling on the reach of the protections afforded by the Clean Water Act (CWA) in Sacket v. EPA. In that...more
Following years of administrative rulemaking and litigation, on September 8, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) released a revision to the definition of waters of the United...more
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers recently announced a revised and final rule amending the definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS) following the Supreme Court decision in Sackett v....more
On September 8, 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (collectively, the Agencies) published a final rule (Agency Rule) to amend the definition of “waters of the...more