At its May 23, 2024 open meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) proposing to establish a one-year “reasonable period of time” for certifying authorities to...more
At its May 23 open meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR), proposing to establish a one-year “reasonable period of time” for certifying authorities to act on...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (“D.C. Circuit”) recently upheld two FERC orders granting natural gas pipeline developers’ requests to extend their construction deadlines. The D.C. Circuit...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
On December 20, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) in Waterkeepers Chesapeake, et al. v. FERC vacated a FERC order approving the relicensing of the Conowingo Dam because FERC did not have...more
On August 5, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overruled several orders by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and held that the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) did not waive...more
On June 2, 2022, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposed rule updating the water quality certification regulatory requirements under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). This proposed...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule on June 9, 2022, to revise the requirements for water quality certification under the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401. The proposed rule changes both...more
Last week, EPA released its proposed “Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification Improvement Rule”. The proposed rule would make a number of significant changes to the rule promulgated by EPA in 2020....more
On October 21, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California vacated and remanded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2020 Clean Water Act Section 401 final rule (Certification Rule)....more
On July 2, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit waded into the controversy surrounding proper interpretation of the one-year deadline for state action contained in Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. Its...more
There has been a longstanding debate about how to apply the one-year time limit on Clean Water Act Section 401 certification decisions. The D.C. Circuit court in Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC, 913 F.3d 1099 (D.C. Cir. 2019)...more
On December 11, 2019, the California Supreme Court granted review of the Third District’s decision in County of Butte v. Department of Water Resources, dismissing a CEQA challenge to DWR’s relicensing application to the...more
On March 23, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the “Second Circuit” or the “Court”) agreed with FERC’s determination that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) had...more
On March 23, the Second Circuit issued its opinion in N.Y. Dep’t of Enviro. Conservation v. FERC, Case No. 19-1610 (i.e., the “Empire Pipeline” case). The case concerns the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC or...more
On March 18, 2021, FERC issued a Final Rule amending its regulations to establish a one-year period for states, tribes, or other certifying authorities (“Certifying Agencies”) to act on a Clean Water Act (“CWA”) Section 401...more
The saga of judicial efforts to enforce the one-year limit on state review of applications for water quality certifications under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act shows no sign of reaching a conclusion. First, in Hoopa...more
On March 18, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) adopted a Final Rule requiring state agencies to issue Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 water quality certificates within one year of receiving a request or...more
FERC issued a final rule on March 18 amending its regulations to establish a one-year period for state agencies or other certifying authorities to act on requests for water quality certifications required for a certificate of...more
In 2019, the D.C. Circuit in Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC held that the plain language of Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 establishes a bright-line maximum period of one year for States to act on a request for water quality...more
Acting in response to a Trump Administration Executive Order instructing federal agencies to reduce regulatory uncertainties and expedite construction of energy infrastructure, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final rule to interpret the requirements for water quality certification under section 401 of the Clean Water Act. This Section grants states and approved tribes the...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued a February 20th document titled: Declaratory Order on Waiver of Water Quality Certification (“Order”)...more
The Maryland Department of the Environment (“MDE”) and Exelon Generation Company, LLC (“Exelon”) entered into a October 29th settlement agreement (“ Settlement Agreement”) related to litigation involving a Section 401 Clean...more
EPA recently published a proposed federal rule (“Proposed Rule”) aimed at limiting the authority of states to deny certifications of compliance with state water quality requirements under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act...more