PFAS in Focus: Forever-Engineering With Trent Stober, HDR - Reflections on Water Podcast
On-Demand Webinar | Flood or Drought? A Discussion of the Election’s Potential Legislative Impacts on the Water Sector
[WEBINAR] Fairly (or Unfairly?) Traceable: Are Discharges Through Groundwater Subject to the Clean Water Act?
Water Rights with Eric Garner: Prescriptive Rights
Context is Crucial in Examining BLM’s Proposed Rule for Fracking On Federal Land
Farmers in southern Tulare County will face greater scrutiny for groundwater pumping after the state placed the region on probation following a lengthy hearing in Sacramento on Tuesday....more
The 2024 legislative session ended on August 31, meaning the legislature passed all bills for this year. All of the bills are currently with Governor Newsom. He has until September 30 to sign or veto any bills. Any bills not...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday finalized tougher methane reporting standards that could increase the number of oil and gas companies that must pay fees for excess methane emissions....more
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recent rulemakings for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have far-reaching implications for a broad range of industries, regulated entities, and regulatory bodies. First,...more
On Friday, April 26, 2024, Michigan Supreme Court Justices accepted a briefing from the Homebuilders Association of Michigan in support of a manufacturer’s challenge to the State’s maximum containment levels for certain per-...more
Much has been written, including in our Burns & Levinson Legal Terrain Blog, about the impact of PFAS and similar “forever chemicals” on suits by state attorneys general and private actions to obtain funds or obtain insurance...more
On April 19, 2024, just nine days after finalizing the first-ever national, legally enforceable drinking water standard for six individual per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), the Agency designated PFOA and PFOS, two...more
Last Friday, EPA formally designated perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) – including their salts and structural isomers! – as hazardous substances under CERCLA. I cannot really quarrel with...more
On April 19, 2024, EPA announced its highly anticipated final rule designating two polyfluoroalkyl substances ("PFAS")—perfluorooctanoic acid ("PFOA") and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid ("PFOS")—as "hazardous substances" under...more
On April 19, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its final rule designating perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), two of the most common and well-known per- and...more
On Friday, April 19, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a pre-publication version of its Final Rule (the Rule) designating two widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) –...more
Powerful pumps that supply much of California’s population with water have killed several thousand threatened and endangered fish this year, prompting environmental groups to demand that state and federal agencies take...more
On April 2, 2024, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) released the California Water Plan Update 2023 (CWP 2023 Update). DWR’s press release dubs the plan “A Roadmap to Water Management and Infrastructure for a...more
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) published proposed amendments to the Ground Water Quality Standards (GWQS) on January 2, 2024. The rulemaking process is currently underway, and the new standards...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
Yet another new horizon looms for PFAS litigation. Numerous PFAS claims, like those involving deceptive trade practices due to PFAS in food packaging, seldom withstand a motion to dismiss, but the emergence of a novel...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
On Jan. 2, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) rang in the new year by publishing a Proposed Rule updating the Ground Water Quality Standards (GWQS) for 65 of the 73 constituents currently regulated...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
On November 20, 2023, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Idaho Conservation League v. Poe, No. 22-35978. Therein, the Court upheld its previous interpretation of “discharged” in the context of...more
On November 21, 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Cottonwood Environmental Law Center vs. Edwards addressing various Clean Water Act issues. Its two key holdings were that (1) the district court...more
Last month, environmental and natural resources law practitioners, including members of the Brownstein team, gathered outside Yosemite National Park for the annual Yosemite Environmental Law Conference. The conference...more
Yesterday, I spoke with Sarah Mattalian, an Inside EPA reporter writing a story about the suggestion by an EPA official that EPA might require additional PFAS investigations and clean up at properties that had already been...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