[WEBINAR] Fairly (or Unfairly?) Traceable: Are Discharges Through Groundwater Subject to the Clean Water Act?
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are at the top of every environmental regulator’s list in 2024 and already this year the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken key steps toward regulating...more
In addition to amending the Wetlands Protection Regulations to add performance standards for the Land Subject to Coastal Storm Flowage wetland resource area, MassDEP wants to update the Massachusetts Stormwater Management...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
The epic depletion of naturally occurring phosphorous in the environment, or “Phosphogeddon,” as it is euphemistically called often by some who discount its significance, may be the next great environmental challenge, ranking...more
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously exclaimed sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants. Of course the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Rome News-Tribune endorse that proposition. And, the newspapers...more
On February 27, 2023, in a much anticipated decision, California’s Second District Court of Appeal overruled the trial court by determining that the State Water Resources Control Board (“State Water Board”) did not violate...more
UPDATE: In response to a request for modification by the State and Regional Water Boards, the Second District Court of Appeal has limited certain aspects of its prior ruling. The primary ask of the State and Regional Water...more
As a consequence of the efforts by EPA and state environmental authorities throughout New England and beyond to update wastewater treatment requirements, including management of the sludge produced, significant questions and...more
EPA got a lot of press this week for its first ever "enforcement" action relating to the continuing discharge of the forever chemicals known as PFAS into the Ohio River in West Virginia. Many of you know that this part of the...more
PFAS are being detected in drinking water systems across the United States. Moreover, evolving regulatory developments already require or soon will require that public water systems sample for and remediate these chemicals....more
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”) and LCS Recycling, LLC (“LCS”) entered into an August 9th Settlement addressing alleged violations of water, solid waste, and spill prevention and control (“SPC”)...more
AB 377, entitled the “California Clean Water Act,” introduced by Assemblymember Rivas in February 2021, includes provisions to eliminate all “impaired waterways” and make all waters in California suitable for drinking,...more
On February 18, 2021, the First Appellate District issued an opinion in Sweeney et al. v. California Regional Water Quality Control Bd., San Francisco Bay Region et al. (Case No. A153583) (“Sweeney”). The opinion is much...more
On January 20, 2021, the California State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) adopted a new statewide general Waste Discharge Requirement (WDR) order for winery process waste discharge facilities (New Winery...more
On December 17, 2020, the Sacramento County Superior Court substantially limited the scope of waters to which the State Procedures for Discharges of Dredged and Fill Material (“Procedures”) apply through its decision in San...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published an October 22nd Federal Register Notice proposing revisions to the approved test methods in 40 C.F.R. Part 136 addressing wastewater sampling. See 84 Fed....more
On August 28, 2019, the California Office of Administrative Law (“OAL”) approved the State Wetland Definition and Procedures for Discharges of Dredged or Fill Materials to Waters of the State (“Procedures”). Consequently, the...more
The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (“NACWA”) and other municipalities filed an Amicus Brief in the pending Supreme Court of the United States case styled County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, et al....more
On May 1, 2019, a group of California agencies and municipalities filed a petition for writ of mandate and complaint for mandatory relief challenging the State Wetlands Definition and Procedures for Discharges of Dredge and...more
For background information regarding open-loop scrubber environmental studies by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportaiton and Tourism (MLIT) and the classification society Det Norske Veritas Germanischer...more
Comprehensive studies regarding the environmental effects of discharges from vessel's open-loop scrubbers released during the last several weeks by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)...more
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
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) on December 21st published a final updated Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria (“WQC”) recommendations for aluminum in freshwater under Section 304(a)(1) of...more