[WEBINAR] Fairly (or Unfairly?) Traceable: Are Discharges Through Groundwater Subject to the Clean Water Act?
Just before the holidays I wrote about three Judges of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals who decided, over the Army Corps of Engineers' objection, to apply the Supreme Court's Sackett test for determining whether something...more
Earlier this month, in Lewis v. United States the 5th Circuit issued a decision interpreting the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA. The 5th Circuit decision is a model of clarity and demonstrates what I’ll call the...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
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 United States Supreme Court (“SCourt”) issued an April 23rd decision in County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, et al. See No. 18-260. The case involves whether, and to what extent, a discharge of pollutants...more
The scope of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) has vexed the courts and lead agencies for over a decade. In one of the most significant environmental cases this year, on February 19, 2019, the Supreme Court granted the petition for...more
A major skirmish in the long-running legal battle over the scope of protected waters under the federal Clean Water Act (“Act”) has just ended with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in National Association of Manufacturers v....more
On January 22,2018, the Supreme Court ruled that challenges to the WOTUS Rule must be heard in the district courts. At a certain level, the decision was easy and obvious – as evidenced by the absence of any dissent. ...more
On November 27, 2017, the 9th Circuit affirmed the conviction of a Joseph Robertson, Montana man who: “discharged dredged and fill material into the surrounding wetlands and an adjacent tributary, which flows to Cataract...more