[WEBINAR] Fairly (or Unfairly?) Traceable: Are Discharges Through Groundwater Subject to the Clean Water Act?
The District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Proposed Rule) to adopt a new Chapter 16 – Discharge of Groundwater to the Municipal Separate Stormwater Sewer...more
In an ACOEL blog posted on July 27, 2021, Seth Jaffe expressed his support for the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in the Maui case and the subsequent ruling by the District Court. In Maui, the Supreme Court held that an...more
In a surprising twist in the permitting relationship between the federal and state governments, U.S. EPA has unilaterally stopped jointly issuing surface water discharge permits with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,...more
New California Law to Help Achieve SGMA Requirements - Assembly Bill 658, signed into law last week, creates new temporary diversion permits allowing for excess surface water capture during high-flow events. Permits...more
On April 15, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a prepublication draft of an Interpretative Statement clarifying the application of Clean Water Act (CWA) National Pollution Discharge Elimination...more
Welcome to Alston & Bird’s Environmental & Land Use Briefing, a summary of emerging issues and recent developments in environmental and land use law. ...more
Everyone knows the importance and value of water. Under Oklahoma law, while stream water is owned by the state, groundwater is a private property right connected to the land. Historically in Oklahoma, groundwater rights have...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
A recent decision by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Hawai'i Wildlife Fund v. County of Maui) created a new standard for permitting under the Clean Water Act — one that captures discharges from point sources through...more
The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on April 18, 2018, entitled “The Appropriate Role of States and the Federal Government in Protecting Groundwater.” Persons providing testimony included...more
A recent Ninth Circuit ruling that pollutants reaching waters of the United States through groundwater may trigger Clean Water Act liability has prompted the U.S. EPA to consider clarifying its position on the subject. The...more
After five parched years, substantial winter rains and Sierra snowpack have brought California a long-sought reprieve from drought, though not without presenting a new set of challenges. In February, nearly 200,000 residents...more
Summary: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of the Inspector General is examining the Agency’s usage of Toxic Release Inventory data to evaluate companies’ compliance with surface water discharge permitting...more
Water rights lawsuits are not new. But a recent ruling in Texas sets new precedent in the fight for groundwater. There, a Texas trial court recently awarded pecan farmers Glenn and JoLynn Bragg $2.5 million for their lost...more