[WEBINAR] Fairly (or Unfairly?) Traceable: Are Discharges Through Groundwater Subject to the Clean Water Act?
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and Mr. Mulch, LLC (“Mr. Mulch”) entered into a July 11th Expedited Settlement Agreement (“ESA”) addressing alleged violations of the Clean Water Act Stormwater...more
An environmental advocacy organization on July 23 filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles over the Port of L.A.'s stormwater treatment system. At issue is a 53-acre portion of the port on Terminal Island where...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
The Accidental Chemical Release Rules have an effective date of May 10, 2024, and includes a number of situations requiring compliance, generally by May 10, 2027. The new Clean Water Act facility response plan...more
The Conservation Law Foundation (“CLF”) sent an April 10th letter to Patriot Beverages, LLC and CPF, Inc. (collectively, “Pepsi Beverages”) styled: Notice of Violations and Intent to File Suit Under the Clean Water Act...more
Key Takeaways - • What Is Happening? On March 14, 2024, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a final rule requiring certain facilities to develop Facility Response Plans (FRPs) for a potential worst-case...more
The City of Holyoke, Massachusetts, (“Holyoke”) filed a document before the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Environmental Appeals Board (“EAB”) titled: Petition for Review of City of Holyoke Water...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 United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and Berg Brothers Recycling, Inc. (“Berg Brothers”) entered into a January 31st Consent Agreement (“CA”) addressing alleged violations of a Clean Water Act stormwater...more
Ever since the Clean Water Act of 1972 dramatically overhauled the way in which America, through the EPA, monitors and protects its waterways, there has been the struggle between the literal life-and-death need for clean...more
Companies that produce and discharge pollutants are subject to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversight under the Clean Water Act. The EPA routinely conducts inspections focused on federal laws like Oil Pollution...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
EPA is poised to issue a final rule (the Rule) requiring stringent planning requirements for facilities with the potential for a “worst-case discharge” that could reasonably be expected to cause substantial harm to the...more
November was an eventful month for the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued two decisions last month—which will apply to cases and matters in California and other states within the Ninth...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
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency), on November 27, 2023, released its draft guidance addressing its proposed interpretation to apply the Supreme Court decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund,...more
On November 20, with no fanfare at all, not even a press release, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its Draft Guidance: Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) is issuing for public comment draft guidance on applying the United States Supreme Court decision in County of Maui vs. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. EPA had previously...more
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
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
In August 2023, EPA released a best management fact sheet called Pollution Prevention Strategies for Industrial PFAS Discharges which provides information to address NPDES discharges containing PFAS under the Clean Water Act....more
Seventy-nine percent of plastic waste ends up in landfills or the environment, much of which eventually ends up in our oceans. A March 8, 2023 study, estimated the average amount of small plastics in the ocean surface layer...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced on September 14th a final rule that it denominates Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification Improvement Rule (“Final Rule”)....more
More than a year and a half ago, Holland & Knight wrote about how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promised new Vessel Incidental Discharge National Standards of Performance following adoption of the Vessel...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