News & Analysis as of September 19, 2024

Clean Water Act › Surface Water

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The Clean Water Act is a United States federal statute enacted in 1972 to reduce levels of toxic substances in the nation's water supply and to prevent high levels of new contamination. The CWA seeks to accomplish its stated goals by preventing point and nonpoint pollution sources, assisting wastewater treatment facilities and maintaining wetlands. less -

EPA Issues Guidance on Maui Factors

Holland & Knight LLP on 11/28/2023

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced release of its Draft Guidance Regarding NPDES Permitting of Certain Discharges through Groundwater to Surface Waters (Draft Guidance) on Nov. 20, 2023, notice of which...more

Revised WOTUS Rule Limits Reach of Clean Water Act

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC on 8/31/2023

On August 29, 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) released a revision to the definition of water of the United States (WOTUS) that significantly curtails the agencies’ authority...more

EPA & the Corps have published their 10th attempt to determine the reach of the Clean Water Act. Litigation is certain to follow.

Mintz on 8/30/2023

Ahead of schedule, yesterday EPA and the US Army Corps of Engineers published their tenth attempt to specify the reach of the Federal Clean Water Act. The only question now is will its opponents file amended complaints in...more

Oh, Congress Forgot The Science

(ACOEL) | American College of Environmental... on 7/30/2021

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

EPA to Modify the Navigable Waters Protection Rule

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck on 6/11/2021

Proposed regulatory changes will increase the extent of lands throughout the country that will be designated, and regulated, as wetlands. On June 9, 2021, the Department of the Army and the Environmental Protection Agency...more

Closing the Clean Water Gap: Arizona DEQ Proposes State Protected Surface Waters Program

Perkins Coie on 12/3/2020

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, on November 6, 2020, introduced a proposed Protected Surface Water Program, which would regulate certain state surface waters that are newly excluded from the regulatory scope...more

EPA Abandons Joint Issuance of Surface Water Discharge Permits with Massachusetts

Beveridge & Diamond PC on 7/29/2020

In a surprising twist in the permitting relationship between the federal and state governments, U.S. EPA has unilaterally stopped jointly issuing surface water discharge permits with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,...more

[Webinar] A Tale of Two Permits - May 21st, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EST

Bricker Graydon LLP on 5/19/2020

Bricker & Eckler and Hull & Associates will discuss the potential impacts and outcomes of recent activities in the area of surface water permitting. Specifically, we will be addressing the court ruling in Northern Plains...more

Navigable Waters Protection Rule (formerly the Clean Water Rule)

Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC on 5/14/2020

On April 21, 2020, the EPA and USACE (jointly the "Agencies") had published in the Federal Register the final rule, "Navigable Waters Protection Rule" (NWPR), which has a scheduled effective date of June 22, 2020. Thus, what...more

More Evidence that Chevron Is Not a Liberal Plot

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 12/2/2019

November 26, 2019, Judge William Young ruled that discharges to groundwater are not subject to Clean Water Act jurisdiction, even if they ultimately reach surface waters that are unambiguously waters of the United States. He...more

EPA Issues Interpretive Statement on NPDES Regulation of Groundwater

Holland & Knight LLP on 4/18/2019

On April 15, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a prepublication draft of an Interpretative Statement clarifying the application of Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollution Discharge Elimination...more

EPA Rejects Clean Water Act “Conduit Theory”

King & Spalding on 4/18/2019

Whether a discharge to groundwater that results in pollution of jurisdictional surface waters is regulated under the Clean Water Act (the “CWA”) is the subject of much debate, conflicting decisions from the Circuit Courts of...more

Environmental & Land Use Briefing - February 2019

Alston & Bird on 2/27/2019

Welcome to Alston & Bird’s Environmental & Land Use Briefing, a summary of emerging issues and recent developments in environmental and land use law. ...more

Clean Water Act Controversy

Brooks Pierce on 2/4/2019

A point source by any other name. Federal Courts of Appeals have recently split on the question of whether pollution of surface water via groundwater is a violation of the Clean Water Act. The U.S. Supreme Court may weigh...more

Solicitor General Tells SCOTUS EPA Poised to Act on CWA Comments

Holland & Knight LLP on 1/10/2019

On Jan. 3, 2019, the Solicitor General filed a Brief for the United States as Amicus Curiae in response to an order issued Dec. 3, 2018, which "called for the views of the Solicitor General" (CVSG) in connection with two...more

Justices Request the Government’s Views on CWA Discharge Cases

Beveridge & Diamond PC on 12/6/2018

On December 3, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court requested the federal government’s views on two petitions for certiorari asking the Court to decide whether the Clean Water Act (CWA) regulates releases of pollutants that reach...more

Petitions Seek Supreme Court Review of Fourth and Ninth Circuit Decisions That Could Expand the CWA’s NPDES Program

Beveridge & Diamond PC on 9/10/2018

Earlier this year, the Fourth and Ninth Circuits decided a pair of cases that have the potential to greatly expand the scope of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program under the Clean Water...more

[WEBINAR] Fairly (or Unfairly?) Traceable: Are Discharges Through Groundwater Subject to the Clean Water Act?

Best Best & Krieger LLP on 6/22/2018

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

Senate Committee Holds Hearing on Clean Water Act

Holland & Knight LLP on 4/24/2018

The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on April 18, 2018, entitled “The Appropriate Role of States and the Federal Government in Protecting Groundwater.” Persons providing testimony included...more

After 9th Circuit Ruling in Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui, EPA Considers ‘Clarifying’ Clean Water Act Coverage for...

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 3/15/2018

A recent Ninth Circuit ruling that pollutants reaching waters of the United States through groundwater may trigger Clean Water Act liability has prompted the U.S. EPA to consider clarifying its position on the subject. The...more

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Clean Water Act › Surface Water

EPA Issues Guidance on Maui Factors

Revised WOTUS Rule Limits Reach of Clean Water Act

EPA & the Corps have published their 10th attempt to determine the reach of the Clean Water Act. Litigation is certain to follow.

Oh, Congress Forgot The Science

EPA to Modify the Navigable Waters Protection Rule

Closing the Clean Water Gap: Arizona DEQ Proposes State Protected Surface Waters Program

EPA Abandons Joint Issuance of Surface Water Discharge Permits with Massachusetts

[Webinar] A Tale of Two Permits - May 21st, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EST

Navigable Waters Protection Rule (formerly the Clean Water Rule)

More Evidence that Chevron Is Not a Liberal Plot

EPA Issues Interpretive Statement on NPDES Regulation of Groundwater

EPA Rejects Clean Water Act “Conduit Theory”

Environmental & Land Use Briefing - February 2019

Clean Water Act Controversy

Solicitor General Tells SCOTUS EPA Poised to Act on CWA Comments

Justices Request the Government’s Views on CWA Discharge Cases

Petitions Seek Supreme Court Review of Fourth and Ninth Circuit Decisions That Could Expand the CWA’s NPDES Program

[WEBINAR] Fairly (or Unfairly?) Traceable: Are Discharges Through Groundwater Subject to the Clean Water Act?

Senate Committee Holds Hearing on Clean Water Act

After 9th Circuit Ruling in Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui, EPA Considers ‘Clarifying’ Clean Water Act Coverage for...

EPA Seeks Comment on ‘‘Discharges of Pollutants’’ via a Direct Hydrologic Connection to Surface Water

EPA Publishes Notice Requesting Public Comment on Whether to Regulate Discharges to Groundwater Under the CWA

Ninth Circuit Decision Expands CWA to Indirect Discharges to Navigable Water

Pierce Atwood Environmental Regulatory Compliance Calendar

Case Law Updates

Clean Water Act › Surface Water

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