Fairfax County government recently announced a new multiyear planning initiative to modernize the Virginia county's Policy Plan, a key component of its Comprehensive Plan. This effort, called "Plan Forward," will focus on...more
Virginia’s construction stormwater discharge permit program appears to be undergoing major transformation over the next six to nine months, and reception to these changes from stakeholders is likely to vary given the...more
Many of us have followed the progress of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup; sadly slow but encouragingly steady. Chesapeake Bay states have been working for decades to improve state pollutant loads, and US EPA has imposed a TMDL on...more
Can you still build a bulkhead along the shoreline in coastal Virginia to protect your property? Well, it depends, but now the answer is more likely to be “no.”...more
The Chesapeake Legal Alliance recently won a notable victory for the Assateague Coastal Trust in a successful challenge to the Maryland Department of Environmental Protection’s issuance of a state NPDES general permit for...more
Recent legislation and just proposed regulatory amendments present a new opportunity, but also potential concerns, for implementing climate change resiliency measures on properties subject to Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay...more
Arguably, the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) is one of our society’s most important numbers. The SCC is used in all climate decisions and will now be considered in all significant governmental decisions and federal actions. How...more
There are 7,719 miles of tidal shoreline in Maryland along the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, according to the Maryland Geological Survey. The vast majority of that shoreline is privately owned, thereby limiting the...more
At ACOEL’s 2019 annual meeting in Williamsburg I chaired a panel on the ongoing restoration of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, which I described as the biggest, and arguably the best, example of cooperative federalism in the...more
On January 21, 2021, the State Water Control Board (“Board”) published draft amendments to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Designation and Management Regulations that would require localities to incorporate coastal...more
In the ever-increasing effort to control nutrient (phosphorous and nitrogen) loads into the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Virginia and other Bay states are looking for additional means to ratchet down nutrient-laden stormwater...more
If your company is planning to buy commercial or industrial real estate, it’s probably your standard practice to have a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (“Phase I”) performed. When you do so, it’s important to ensure the...more
In early April 2019, Virginia released its draft Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan (“Draft Plan”) to achieve compliance with EPA’s 2010 Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load Rule (“Bay TMDL”). The Bay TMDL sets...more
In our previous post entitled “EPA’s Budget was Cut How Much? Making Sense of the White House’s ‘Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again,’” we discussed the White House’s proposed fiscal year 2018 budget outline for the...more
The Trump Administration unveiled significant rollbacks in funding for federal agencies when it released its Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again on March 16, 2017. The President's proposed budget priorities would...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
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to consider an appeal challenging EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Total Daily Maximum Load (TMDL), thereby bringing to an end the contentious years-long litigation over its legality. The Court’s...more
Clean Water Rule Opens Litigation Floodgates - With much fanfare, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) recently issued a final rule clarifying which bodies of water are “waters of the United States” protected...more
On July 6, 2015, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit unanimously rejected a challenge brought by agricultural and builder groups to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chesapeake Bay...more
On July 6, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling in the case of American Farm Bureau Federation v. EPA (No. 13-4079). The ruling, which affirmed an earlier district decision upholding the U.S....more
In April 2015, the Maryland General Assembly enacted a law – known as SB 863 – that substantially amended legislation enacted in 2012 requiring each of the 10 most populous jurisdictions in Maryland to establish an annual...more
Maryland’s Prince George’s County Council has approved a first-of-its kind agreement with Corvias Solutions for a 30-year stormwater management public-private partnership (P3). The novel initiative, formally announced by EPA...more