Key Takeaways -
• What Is Happening? On March 14, 2024, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a final rule requiring certain facilities to develop Facility Response Plans (FRPs) for a potential worst-case...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is soliciting comments on a draft guidance document on approaches to issuing National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits for communities that have completed...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency), on November 27, 2023, released its draft guidance addressing its proposed interpretation to apply the Supreme Court decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund,...more
On May 25, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Sackett v. EPA, No. 21-454, holding that Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction extends to wetlands only if they have a continuous surface connection to...more
Key Takeaways -
• What Is Happening? On September 14, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1 exercised its Clean Water Act (CWA) Residual Designation Authority to require National Pollutant Discharge...more
Key Takeaways -
• What Is Happening? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule requiring certain facilities to prepare Facility Response Plans (FRPs) for responding to worst case discharges...more
Key Takeaways What Is Happening? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published for public comment its proposed 2022 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Construction General Permit (CGP), which...more
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ’s) policy and rulemaking board adopted rules renewing Oregon’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Stormwater Discharge General Permit No. 1200-Z (1200-Z...more
Key Takeaways -
• What Is Happening? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the 2021 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) for stormwater discharges...more
Public water, wastewater, and stormwater utilities face an array of compliance obligations under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) that require investment in upgrades and maintenance of critical wastewater infrastructure....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 U.S. Supreme Court held today, in a much-anticipated ruling, that the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) requirement to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, can apply to certain releases of...more
4/27/2020
/ 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
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published for public comment its proposed 2020 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP), which authorizes stormwater discharges...more
On November 26, a federal district court judge in Massachusetts held that releases of pollutants reaching surface waters through groundwater do not require permits under the Clean Water Act (CWA), “irrespective of any...more
The Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument in County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, No. 18-260, a case in which the justices will decide a key jurisdictional issue under the Clean Water Act (CWA): whether...more
On August 8, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a proposed rule to revise its regulations (40 C.F.R. Part 121) implementing Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), 33 U.S.C. § 1341. The proposed...more
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari on a critical question affecting the scope of the Clean Water Act (CWA): whether releases of pollutants require National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits...more
On December 3, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court requested the federal government’s views on two petitions for certiorari asking the Court to decide whether the Clean Water Act (CWA) regulates releases of pollutants that reach...more
On Monday, divided panels of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a pair of decisions holding that Clean Water Act (“CWA”) Section 301’s prohibition on unpermitted discharges does not apply to pollutants...more
Earlier this year, the Fourth and Ninth Circuits decided a pair of cases that have the potential to greatly expand the scope of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program under the Clean Water...more
On February 1, 2018, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, 886 F.3d 737 (9th Circ. 2018), that has the potential to greatly expand the scope of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System...more
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California gave environmental groups a significant win in their bid to force EPA to regulate new sources of stormwater discharges under the Clean Water Act...more
On April 12, the Fourth Circuit became the second federal court of appeals this year to hold that a point source need not directly introduce pollutants into navigable waters in order for the Clean Water Act’s (CWA)...more
On February 1, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision that has the potential to sweep regulated groundwater discharges that reach surface waters, and similarly remote-in-place discharge situations, into the Clean Water Act’s...more
The past several months have witnessed multiple attempts by environmental groups bring currently unregulated entities that discharge stormwater into the Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollution Discharge Elimination System...more