A federal judge in California declined to enjoin implementation of the rule, holding that in view of ambiguous Supreme Court guidance, the government is free to reinterpret WOTUS. The opposite conclusion was reached by a...more
On June 1, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its new rules implementing section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Section 401 provides that before a federal agency can approve a project that may result...more
On May 15, 2020, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) submitted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in which it objected to EPA's draft water quality discharge permits (NPDES permits)...more
In a 6-3 opinion, the U. S. Supreme Court decided one of the more closely followed environmental disputes of recent years. In County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, the Court considered whether injecting municipal sewage...more
4/24/2020
/ 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
Among the barrage of news reports related to state and federal responses to COVID-19, less discussed is the suspension of some environmental compliance obligations for regulated entities affected by the crisis....more
The EPA yesterday announced that the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, jointly proposed by EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers in June 2019, is now final. ...more
On December 9, the Supreme Court denied certiorari to review the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC. As reported in this space, in January the D.C. Circuit roundly rejected the common practice...more
What is the jurisdictional reach of the Clean Water Act? The Act applies to “navigable waters”, which are defined as the “waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.”...more
As part of the Administration’s policy in favor of domestic oil and gas development, on April 10 President Trump issued an Executive Order “Promoting Energy Infrastructure and Economic Growth.” ...more
On January 25, 2019, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit rendered a highly significant opinion with respect to state water quality certification under section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). ...more
On August 16, a federal judge in South Carolina invalidated the Trump Administration’s suspension of the rule defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), under the Clean Water Act....more
In a rare moment of clarity in the benighted history of the Waters of the United States or WOTUS rule, a unanimous Supreme Court declared that jurisdiction to review the WOTUS rule lies in the District Courts and not the...more
The Trump Administration has begun rulemaking to undo the controversial rule defining “waters of the United States” or WOTUS. In the July 27 Federal Register, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers jointly announced that it is...more
While the Trump Administration has struggled overall to develop and implement coherent policies, the Administration has had some success in the environmental sphere. Through a series of presidential memoranda, executive...more
With a flourish of his pen, on February 28 President Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at dismantling the ill-fated Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. The rule was the latest attempt by EPA and the Army Corps of...more
Does this make sense to you? Eighteen states petitioned the Sixth Circuit to challenge the new rule adopted by EPA and the Corps of Engineers defining “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. Then the...more
With so many challenges filed in so many venues to EPA’s Waters of the United States or WOTUS rule, it seemed inevitable that some plaintiffs somewhere would find a sympathetic court. And so it is that thirteen states found...more
Wednesday, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers released a prepublication version of the final rule defining “waters of the United States,” the jurisdictional trigger under the Clean Water Act. The term needs defining because...more
The Science Advisory Board has at last released its peer review of EPA’s draft report on Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters: A Review and Synthesis, the technical support for the proposed rule on...more
Federal agencies face growing opposition from members of Congress and industry regarding a proposed definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The scope of federal jurisdiction under the CWA...more
The Western states face two reciprocating and overarching problems in water resources policy. First, water is an increasingly scarce resource facing sharply competitive needs. Climate change is projected to put even more...more
EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers continue their ongoing effort to bring clarity to the tangled mess wrought by the Supreme Court in Rapanos v. U. S. In that 2006 case, a fractured Court issued five separate opinions on the...more
On February 26, in a reprise of its partially successful assault on Oregon water quality standards, Northwest Environmental Advocates sent a Notice of Intent to Sue EPA for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and...more
On Jan. 8, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that flow from an improved portion of a waterway into an unimproved portion of the same waterway — even if polluted — does not qualify as “discharge of pollutants”...more