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Supreme Court of the United States › Clean Water Act › Discharge of Pollutants

The United States Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States and is charged with interpreting federal law, including the United States Constitution. The Court's docket is largely discretionary... more +
The United States Supreme Court is the highest court of the United States and is charged with interpreting federal law, including the United States Constitution. The Court's docket is largely discretionary with only a limited number of cases granted review each term.  The Court is comprised of one chief justice and eight associate justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to hold lifetime positions. less -
Mintz

The City and County of San Francisco are about to deliver EPA & the Ninth Circuit their 3rd consecutive Clean Water Act defeat in...

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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

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Confronting Regulatory Fluidity in the Post-Maui and Post-Sackett World of Water Regulation

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Both regulators and the regulated community must remain alert to accommodate the constantly changing regulatory scheme created in the post-Sackett world. The application of Maui and Sackett in recent months confirms the...more

Mintz

Now a Federal Judge in Louisiana will determine the validity of EPA's interpretation of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act

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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

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Does Discharged Groundwater Require a Clean Water Act NPDES Permit? U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Issues Draft Maui...

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) is issuing for public comment draft guidance on applying the United States Supreme Court decision in County of Maui vs. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. EPA had previously...more

Mintz

EPA's new Maui Functional Equivalence Guidance is guidance in name only as confusion continues to reign over the reach of the...

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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

Cranfill Sumner LLP

Fourth Circuit Limits Reach of Federal Regulation Under the “Major Questions” Doctrine as it Relieves Shrimp Trawlers from Clean...

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The Clean Water Act (“CWA”) regulates the discharge of certain “pollutants” into waters of the United States (“WOTUS”).  Should shrimp trawlers be subject to the regulatory framework under the CWA when they return “bycatch”...more

Mintz

Surprising to see EPA now taking steps to make it easier for states to take over the Federal Government's dredge and fill permit...

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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

Verrill

Supreme Court Ignores Dictionary, Limits Clean Water Act

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The United States Supreme Court decided last week in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency that a word does not mean what the dictionary, Congress, or two federal agencies have for 45 years understood it to mean....more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Colorado Meets Maui: District Court Analyzes Discharges to Groundwater

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Maui has finally made its way to Colorado. In what appears to be the first application of County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020) in the state, the District of Colorado recently held that certain...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Citizen Suit Enforcement/Clean Water Act: Federal District Court Addresses Alleged Violation by Wetland Biofilter Stormwater...

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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

Mintz

EPA's Science Advisory Board says EPA's definition of Waters of the United States is supported by science but will that matter to...

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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

Mintz

This 1st Circuit Clean Water Act decision makes complete sense except in the real world

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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

Allen Matkins

The Still Murky Permitting Requirements Under the Clean Water Act after County of Maui Spawn Highly Fact-Intensive Inquiries

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In last year’s Land Use, Environmental & Natural Resources Update 2021 Update, we reported on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund (County of Maui), 590 U.S. __; 140 S. Ct. 2778 (2020),...more

Jenner & Block

WOTUS to Get The SCOTUS Treatment, Again

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On January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on the scope and authority of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”). The Court granted certiorari in the case of Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,...more

Mintz

Will Rogers, Farmers and Waters of the United States

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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

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Waters of the United States/Clean Water Act: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency/Corps of Engineers Proposed Rule

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Corps of Engineers (collectively “EPA”) announced on November 19th a revised definition of waters of the United States (“WOTUS”). The agencies are...more

Mintz

The end of the road in Maui? - October 2021

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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

Stinson LLP

How Can We Chart a Course on Navigable Waters?

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Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided the County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund case in April 2020, the legal landscape of "navigable waters of the U.S." has eroded quickly. With Maui, the Supreme Court created a test for...more

Robinson & Cole LLP

Catching Up on the 2021 Clean Water Act Releases

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The latest season of Clean Water Act (CWA) changes are now streaming from the courts and federal agencies. The Biden administration and lower courts have picked up where prior administrations and the U.S. Supreme Court left...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Does a Discharge to Groundwater Require a Clean Water Act NPDES Permit?: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Rescinds Maui...

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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) rescinded a guidance document it had previously issued titled: Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean Water Act...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Does a Discharge to Groundwater Require a Clean Water Act NPDES Permit?: Federal Court Addresses Maui Issue on Remand

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The United States District Court (District of Hawaii) (“Court”) addressed in a July 15th Order the question of whether a Maui County (“County”) wastewater discharge facility (“Facility”) should have obtained a Clean Water Act...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

Maui Needs a NPDES Permit; What’s Next for WOTUS?

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Last week, District Judge Susan Mollway ruled that the County of Maui must obtain a NPDES permit for discharges to groundwater by the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility. It is the first trial court decision applying the...more

Smith Gambrell Russell

Federal Ruling Requires CWA Permit for Injection Wells

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In a ruling July 15, U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway ordered Maui County to obtain a permit under the Clean Water Act (CWA) consistent with the analysis established by the Supreme Court’s April 2020 ruling that...more

Mintz

The End of the Road in Maui?

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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

Perkins Coie

Conviction for Violation of Clean Water Act Required Knowing Discharge “Into Water”

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The Ninth Circuit reversed a conviction for three counts of violations under the Clean Water Act because the district court failed to instruct the jury that the defendant needed to knowingly discharge material “into water” to...more

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