The United States Supreme Court isn't done with the Clean Water Act and EPA's interpretation of it. This month the City and County of San Francisco asked the nation's highest court to overturn a split Ninth Circuit Court of...more
When EPA published its most recent rule specifying the role of States and Tribes in the Federal permitting of discharges into Waters of the United States, I predicted it was only a matter of time before we'd see another...more
12/7/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Clean Water Act ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Louisiana ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 401 ,
Tribal Governments ,
Trump Administration ,
Water Quality ,
Waters of the United States
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday EPA issued draft guidance regarding when a discharge of a “pollutant” to groundwater is the “functional equivalent” of a discharge to a Water of the United States requiring a NPDES permit...more
11/28/2023
/ Clean Water Act ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
New Guidance ,
NPDES ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Waste Treatment Facilities ,
Waters of the United States
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
10/10/2023
/ Discharge of Pollutants ,
Drinking Water ,
Environmental Litigation ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Georgia ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Multidistrict Litigation ,
New Legislation ,
PFAS ,
Settlement ,
State Legislatures ,
Water
I'm surprised to see the Biden Administration EPA moving forward right now with a rule proposed during the Trump Administration to allow states to take over responsibility for the permitting of "dredge and fill" activities...more
7/20/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Center for Biological Diversity ,
Clean Water Act ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Dredge and Fill ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Proposed Rules ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 404 ,
Trump Administration ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
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
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
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
The Natural Resources Defense Counsel has told the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that overturning a three judge panel's "faithful application" of RCRA "could restrict private parties' abilities to use RCRA to address imminent...more
EPA has released its risk assessment for GenX, one of the hundreds of "forever chemicals" known collectively as PFAS that are ubiquitous in our environment owing to decades of use in everything from fire suppressants to pizza...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
Late yesterday, Federal Judge Susan Oki Mollway, of the District of Hawaii, ruled that the County of Maui needs a Federal Clean Water Act NPDES permit for its groundwater discharge of treated water from its waste water...more
Yesterday the Government Accountability Office issued a lengthy report on enforcement of the NPDES provisions of the Federal Clean Water Act permitting discharges to Waters of the United States. Many of you know that all but...more
In April of 2020, Justice Breyer, delivering the Supreme Court's opinion in Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, told us that "the traditional common-law method, making decisions that provide examples that in turn lead to ever more...more
The United States Supreme Court’s April 23 decision in County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund (https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-260_i4dk.pdf) proves that legislating is best done by the Congress, not the...more
4/24/2020
/ Appeals ,
Clean Water Act ,
Direct Discharge ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Functional Equivalent ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Navigable Waters ,
Permits ,
Point Sources ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Vacated ,
Waters of the United States