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Statutory Interpretation Environmental Policies

Troutman Pepper Locke

To Waive or Not to Waive? That Is the 401 Question

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on May 16, 2025, clarified the conditions under which a state waives its Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 water quality certification (WQC) authority. In Village of Morrisville...more

Miller Starr Regalia

The Federal Clean Water Act In 2025: A Retracting Construction

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More than 50 years ago, the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA or Act) was enacted by Congress to protect the quality of the Nation’s waters. The scope of that protection has been evolving ever since. Until relatively recently, the...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Drowning in Liability: Court Extends "Waste" Rule to SWD Operator; but preserves RPO defense

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In a watershed ruling, the El Paso Court of Appeals extends "waste" liability under the Nat. Res. Code to commercial disposal well operator—potentially increasing exposure for this critical wastewater industry—while...more

Allen Matkins

Federal Agencies Propose Rescission of “Harm” Definition Under Endangered Species Act

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On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively, the Services) published a proposed rule in the Federal Register to rescind their respective...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

No Harm, No Foul? Services Propose to Remove Harm Definition from Endangered Species Act Regulations

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On April 17, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (together Services) published a proposed rule to rescind the long-standing definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species...more

Jenner & Block

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Proposes Regulatory Change to Ease Endangered Species Act Restrictions

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On April 17, 2025, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service proposed a rulemaking to rescind the definition of “harm” in the Endangered Species Act regulations. The change is being made to...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

White House Issues Memorandum Directing Federal Agencies to Repeal Regulations Deemed to be Unlawful Pursuant to Recent U.S....

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On April 9, the White House issued a memorandum directing federal executive departments and agencies to repeal regulations deemed unlawful pursuant to certain U.S. Supreme Court decisions. This directive aims to address...more

Pierce Atwood LLP

May v. Must – The Scope of Agency Permitting Review under Statutory Standards

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The Law Court recently issued a decision in Eastern Maine Conservation Initiative v. Board of Environmental Protection that contains an enlightening discussion of what an agency must consider—as opposed to what an agency may...more

Hanson Bridgett

Court Reaffirms Constitution’s Role in Water Use Disputes

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On April 2, 2025, California’s Fifth Appellate District issued a decision in Bring Back the Kern v. City of Bakersfield (April 2, 2025, F087487) (2025 WL 98443). The Court held the “self-executing” reasonableness requirement...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Federal Court Orders Review of PMRA Decision Renewing Glyphosate Pesticide

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The Federal Court has ordered the review of another Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) decision, spotlighting how the regulatory agency handles new scientific evidence in the renewal process for pesticides in Canada....more

Jones Day

U.S. Supreme Court Limits EPA Clean Water Act Permitting Authority

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On March 4, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in City & County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency and clarified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") and state...more

Venable LLP

Textualism Is More Than Dictionaries: The Supreme Court's Latest Clean Water Act Decision Looks to History and Context

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When it rains too much in San Francisco, the city's wastewater treatment plant can get overloaded. An overloaded wastewater treatment plant means that a city-operated, EPA-permitted point source in the Pacific Ocean could...more

McGlinchey Stafford

SCOTUS Rolls Back EPA’s Permitting Authority under the CWA

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On March 4, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency, limiting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s permitting authority under...more

ArentFox Schiff

A Divided SCOTUS Invalidates Common Provisions of Clean Water Act Permits

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In the US Supreme Court’s first post-Chevron decision involving the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the Supreme Court found against EPA, invalidating ‘end result’ NPDES permit requirements....more

Holland & Knight LLP

Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in Nuclear Waste Storage Cases

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The U.S. Supreme Court on March 5, 2025, heard oral argument in two cases related to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) authority to license temporary spent fuel storage facilities that are not co-located with a...more

Beveridge & Diamond PC

TSCA Confidentiality Protections Upheld by D.C. Circuit Court

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In a landmark decision, the D.C. Circuit Court invalidated an aspect of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule concerning confidential business information (CBI) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The...more

MG+M The Law Firm

EPA Argues PFAS Maximum Contaminant Levels Are Lawful and in Accordance With Statutory Procedure

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On April 10, 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) promulgated the first-ever national, legally enforceable maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...more

ArentFox Schiff

ESG Update: Four Reasons Why 2024 Should Be Remembered as ‘Transitional’ but Not ‘Transformational’ in the Environmental and...

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In the environmental space, 2024 has been a memorable year with regulatory efforts and court decisions touching on every aspect of environmental and energy regulation, capped out by a closely divided election....more

Nossaman LLP

The Loper Bright Decision - What Really Happened to Chevron and What's Next

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In the latest episode of Digging Into Land Use Law, Brooke Marcus and Paul Weiland discuss how "Chevron deference" has loomed large over administrative law during the past four decades. The Loper Bright decision...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

Fluoridation May Not Be A Commie Plot, But It Does Apparently Present Unreasonable Risks

Sometimes, a blog just has to be written. For those of us of a certain age, Sterling Hayden's speech as Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove concerning the Communist plot to fluoridate our water is iconic. Well, it turns out...more

ArentFox Schiff

Can a ‘Tsunami’ Wash Away a Sea Change? Recent Supreme Court Administrative Decisions and Environmental Regulation

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Discussion of administrative law usually doesn’t happen at the dinner table. But a series of recent US Supreme Court decisions may have changed this introducing talk of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the...more

Nossaman LLP

National Environmental Policy Act Regulations: Phase 2 – Does NEPA Apply?

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This is the second in a series of six eAlerts on the Bipartisan Permitting Reform Implementation Rule published in the Federal Register on May 1, 2024 (Final Rule) by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The Final Rule...more

Nossaman LLP

UPDATE: Federal District Court Enjoins Biden Administration’s WOTUS Rule in Texas and Idaho

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UPDATE: On May 17, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers appealed the district court ruling in Texas v. EPA to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. This appeal would...more

Goldberg Segalla

SCOTUS to Decide Whether Congress or the EPA has the Power to Regulate Carbon Emissions – Part II

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On the heels of oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court, we provide an update to a prior ELM post whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s has the ability to regulate carbon emissions from coal- and gas-fired...more

Farrell Fritz, P.C.

Court of Appeals Affirms Appellate Division Decision Invalidating Town's Discharge Ordinance

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In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals upheld the Second Department’s decision in Hunters For Deer v Town of Smithtown that the Town may not regulate discharge setbacks for bow and arrow in a manner inconsistent with...more

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