Much has already been written about the Supreme Court's decision yesterday to tie EPA's hands in its effort to mitigate the GHG fueled climate catastrophe we face. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our nation, I'd like...more
EPA has announced that the second part of its eighth attempt to define the reach of the Clean Water Act will be delayed until November of 2023. At the same time EPA announced it will move forward with finalizing part one of...more
Surprising no one, lawyers for EPA and the US Army Corps of Engineers have implored the Supreme Court to affirm the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' application of Justice Kennedy's "significant nexus" test for determining the...more
Regardless of your perspective on the respective roles of Congress, the President and the Courts in creating federal environmental law, an essay by Sam Sankar of EarthJustice is well worth your time. ...more
A little over a month ago EPA's Science Advisory Board decided "EPA could benefit from SAB review of the science supporting [EPA's] proposed definition of Waters of the United States.” As many of you know, EPA's proposal is...more
Almost two years to the day after the United States Supreme Court's decision in Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, the First Circuit Court of Appeals rendered its decision in The Blackstone Headwaters Coalition v. Gallo Builders. ...more
Inside EPA's water policy maven, Lara Beaven, is reporting on the EPA's Science Advisory Board's judgment that "EPA could benefit from SAB review of the science supporting [EPA's] proposed definition of Waters of the United...more
Some of you may recall that late last year an NGO filed a lawsuit against an operator of a wastewater treatment facility in the mountains of Montana alleging that the reuse of water treated by the facility was the "functional...more
Bloomberg has published the United States Chamber of Commerce's amicus brief in the Rapanos case. As many of you know, the Supreme Court of the United States is using this case to consider (again) the jurisdictional reach of...more
I doubt the Supreme Court will adopt the Sacketts' test for determining Clean Water Act jurisdiction but the "significant nexus" test is in trouble
Yesterday the Sacketts of Idaho shared with the United States Supreme...more
Today five Justices of the United States Supreme Court reversed a California Federal District Court Judge's decision vacating a Clean Water Act rule enacted by the Trump Administration EPA. The 2020 rule had reduced the role...more
Yesterday EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox told an EPA Advisory Committee EPA remains committed to using Federal rule making to find "common ground" respecting the reach of the Federal Clean Water Act. ...more
A Magistrate Judge and EPA continue to strongly disagree about the application of the Safe Drinking Water Act to septic systems and cesspools in New York State Parks. The Magistrate Judge has concluded, both before and after...more
Lara Beaven of Inside EPA reports on the standoff between the State of Florida and the United States Environmental Protection Agency over the "current definition" of Waters of the United States for the purpose of determining...more
Bloomberg Environment is the first to break the news that the United States Supreme Court has granted the wish of the Sacketts of Idaho, almost half the States of the Union and several associations who asked our nation’s...more
The social commentator Will Rogers famously said that a "farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn’t still be a farmer." Those words certainly ring true when one reads EPA's Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Advisory...more
Lara Beaven, the excellent reporter on all things having to do with the Clean Water Act at Inside EPA, shares what we might expect from EPA and the Supreme Court of the United States in the year just beginning as the longest...more
Last week another NGO filed suit against another operator of a wastewater treatment facility, this one in the mountains of Montana, complaining of "excess" nitrogen in the treated effluent from the wastewater treatment...more
The Sacketts of Idaho want the Supreme Court of the United States to intervene on their behalf for a second time. Now, just weeks before the ten year anniversary of the Sackett's first successful trip to the Supreme Court,...more
The Dean of Environmental Law bloggers, Seth Jaffe, does me the honor of a thoughtful response to my concern about whether EPA's and the Army Corps of Engineers' proposed definition of Waters of the United States, and...more
EPA has published its most recent proposed definition of "Waters of the United States" with an eye toward finalizing that definition next year in time for the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
Before I get to the...more
This week the Massachusetts Attorney General joined the Department of Justice in asking the First Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn what has been the law in the First Circuit for thirty years -- one can't bring a citizen...more
This week the First Circuit Court of Appeals decided to rehear, en banc, the argument of a Massachusetts-based NGO that a 2014 Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Administrative Consent Order did not preempt...more
Traveling the long and winding road to Hana in Maui is one of the most beautiful experiences one can have in the United States. I'm not sure anyone would say the same thing about the long and winding litigation road taken to...more
Lara Beaven, of Inside EPA, reports this afternoon that EPA has shared with the White House Office of Management and Budget what EPA management hopes will be a "durable" definition of "waters of the United States." Such a...more