[WEBINAR] Fairly (or Unfairly?) Traceable: Are Discharges Through Groundwater Subject to the Clean Water Act?
A United States District Court (W.D. Texas, “Court”) addressed in a June 11th Decision issues arising out of a Clean Water Act citizen suit enforcement action. See Ragsdale v. JLM Construction Services, Inc. 2024 WL 2933009. ...more
The United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Wafler Farms, Inc., doing business as Wafler Nursery & Orchards (“WFI”) entered into a July 23rd Consent Decree (“CD”) addressing alleged violations of the Clean Water Act....more
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
Both regulators and the regulated community must remain alert to accommodate the constantly changing regulatory scheme created in the post-Sackett world. The application of Maui and Sackett in recent months confirms the...more
The Tenth Circuit became the second federal appellate court—after the Ninth Circuit—to analyze how federal district courts should evaluate whether a discharge of pollutants to groundwater is the “functional equivalent” of a...more
When EPA published its most recent rule specifying the role of States and Tribes in the Federal permitting of discharges into Waters of the United States, I predicted it was only a matter of time before we'd see another...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Just before the Thanksgiving holiday EPA issued draft guidance regarding when a discharge of a “pollutant” to groundwater is the “functional equivalent” of a discharge to a Water of the United States requiring a NPDES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
The Clean Water Act (“CWA”) regulates the discharge of certain “pollutants” into waters of the United States (“WOTUS”). Should shrimp trawlers be subject to the regulatory framework under the CWA when they return “bycatch”...more
I'm surprised to see the Biden Administration EPA moving forward right now with a rule proposed during the Trump Administration to allow states to take over responsibility for the permitting of "dredge and fill" activities...more
The United States Supreme Court decided last week in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency that a word does not mean what the dictionary, Congress, or two federal agencies have for 45 years understood it to mean....more
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act of 1972, 33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq., prohibits the discharge of dredged or fill material into “navigable waters” without a permit. Section 502(7) of that act defines “navigable waters”...more
On January 18, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the Department of the Army published a new final rule to re-define “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) under the Federal Clean Water Act (“CWA”)....more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday published a final rule defining “Waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, which determines the extent of federal regulatory authority...more
Maui has finally made its way to Colorado. In what appears to be the first application of County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020) in the state, the District of Colorado recently held that certain...more
A little over a month ago EPA's Science Advisory Board decided "EPA could benefit from SAB review of the science supporting [EPA's] proposed definition of Waters of the United States.” As many of you know, EPA's proposal is...more
The California coast offers significant potential for offshore wind development that can help the state reach its renewable energy goals. Developers of wind energy projects located off the California coast will face a number...more
On January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on the scope and authority of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”). The Court granted certiorari in the case of Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,...more
The social commentator Will Rogers famously said that a "farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be a farmer." Those words certainly ring true when one reads EPA's Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Advisory...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Corps of Engineers (collectively “EPA”) announced on November 19th a revised definition of waters of the United States (“WOTUS”). The agencies are...more
Traveling the long and winding road to Hana in Maui is one of the most beautiful experiences one can have in the United States. I'm not sure anyone would say the same thing about the long and winding litigation road taken to...more
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided the County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund case in April 2020, the legal landscape of "navigable waters of the U.S." has eroded quickly. With Maui, the Supreme Court created a test for...more
On August 30, 2021, a federal court in Arizona struck down the Trump WOTUS rule, citing the serious errors in enacting the rule, as well as the serious environmental harm that it has caused....more
On August 30, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona vacated the April 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule in which the Trump Administration revised the definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS)....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
On Wednesday July 21, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the PFAS Action Act of 2021. The bill, H.R. 2467, passed 241-183 demonstrating its bipartisan support, with twenty-three Republicans joining their...more