EarthJustice and other environmental/community organizations have filed a joint Amici Curai Brief in the United States Supreme Court styled: City and County of San Francisco v. EPA (“Brief”). See Docket No. 23-753....more
Various municipalities and public wastewater and stormwater utilities have filed a joint Amici Curiae brief in the United States Supreme Court Case styled: City and County of San Francisco v EPA...more
As predicted in February, our nation's highest court is about to hear its third Clean Water Act in four years. Anyone who doubts the outcome of this case hasn't read the other two Supreme Court opinions and that brings to...more
Last week, EPA and the Army Corps finally published their long-awaited rule defining “Waters of the United States.” Will the WOTUS rule finally provide the clarity for which we have been waiting, allowing the rule to be as...more
A United States District Court (W.D. Washington) (“Court”) addressed in an October 31st Order a Clean Water Act citizen suit action seeking an injunction to remedy alleged illegal discharge of pollutants into a lake and its...more
Last week, EPA and the Army Corps proposed a new rule to define what constitutes “waters of the United States.” Déjà vu all over again. Under the proposal, the agencies: are exercising their discretionary authority to...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 March 20, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court held in a 7-1 decision that Clean Water Act permits are not required for stormwater runoff from logging roads. The decision in Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center defers...more
The U. S. Supreme Court’s March 20, 2013, decision in Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center is good news for the logging industry. The Clean Water Act (Act) and EPA’s Silvicultural Rule (Regulation) do not require...more
Supreme Court ruling gives deference to EPA's interpretation of its own regulations. On March 20, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the consolidated cases of Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center and...more
In a 7-1 decision overruling the Ninth Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court today upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) long-standing interpretation that stormwater run-off from logging roads are exempt from NPDES...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed a 2010 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision and reaffirmed that a federal Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) point source discharge permit is not...more
The flow of polluted water from a concrete-lined portion of a river into a downstream portion of the same river does not involve a “discharge” for purposes of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) and thus involves no CWA violation,...more
On January 8, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned a judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that would have had vast consequences for stormwater systems and other water infrastructure...more