Sir Winston Churchill famously said "those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Of course he didn't have the nearly four decade long controversy over the reach of the Federal Clean Water Act in mind but...more
This week Sam Hess of Inside EPA asked me if I had an opinion as to why there were fewer lawsuits (so far) challenging EPA's eighth attempt to durably determine the reach of the Federal Clean Water Act than there were...more
This week three Judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that a District Court Judge exceeded his authority in vacating an EPA regulation without first determining that the regulation was unlawful.
The Trump...more
Inside EPA reports that some House Democrats are criticizing their Republican colleagues for attempting to repeal EPA's eighth attempt to determine the reach of the Federal Clean Water Act by regulation. Like recent rules by...more
Three Judges of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals have dismissed the American Chemistry Council's complaint challenging EPA's interim health advisory levels for PFAS in drinking water. The ACC's case was dismissed, not for...more
Everyone expected that EPA's eighth attempt to define the reach of the Federal Clean Water Act would end up in court. I have to admit that I was a bit surprised that two groups of plaintiffs filed their lengthy complaints...more
Inside EPA is reporting this morning that a three judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has joined the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in upholding the constitutionality of the Congressional Review Act. The Act...more
Backwards, forwards, square and round. So goes a lyric by the late great Jeff Beck who died this week. Mr. Beck wasn't writing about the decades long war over the jurisdictional reach of the Federal Clean Water Act but the...more
With apologies to Mr. Shakespeare, and respect to the American Water Works Association, PFOS and PFOA, only two of the hundreds of "forever chemicals" collectively known as PFAS, are either as concerning as the hundreds of...more
As students around the country journey home for Thanksgiving break before final exams, EPA has reported on its progress implementing its ambitious PFAS road map. It was just over a year ago that EPA unveiled that road map and...more
Yesterday a three judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard from lawyers for the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Environmental Protection Agency...more
While many of us were focused on the 2022 elections, the Conservation Law Foundation and the Charles River Watershed Association again sued the Environmental Protection Agency because EPA isn't regulating indirect stormwater...more
I was surprised to see a former EPA official opining that identifying two of the hundreds of forever chemicals known collectively as PFAS as "hazardous substances" under Federal law would "increase legal liability". ...more
This morning the Supreme Court of the United States heard from the Sacketts of Idaho for the second time. For sixteen years the Sacketts have been in the Federal Courts in connection with their attempt to build a house on a...more
Bobby Magill of Bloomberg has published a concise summary of the two hours in the Supreme Court yesterday during which attorneys for the United States of America and the Sacketts of Idaho were grilled on the reach of the...more
As millions in Florida face the wrath of our warming oceans in the guise of Hurricane Ian, Inside EPA is reporting that enough Democrats and Republicans opposed Senator Manchin's proposal to streamline the permitting of...more
Many years ago the Conservation Law Foundation sued the Federal Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to cause EPA to exercise its "residual designation authority" under the Federal Clean Water Act to require permits...more
EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers have asked the White House Office of Management and Budget to review its most recent attempt to define "Waters of the United States". That definition determines the reach of the Federal...more
For years almost 2000 plaintiffs have been litigating in Federal Court in South Carolina against dozens of manufacturers and distributors of fire-fighting aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) that contain perfluorooctanoic acid...more
Within days of Office of Management and Budget and Science Advisory Board blessings, EPA has formally proposed that PFOA and PFOS, two of the hundreds of "forever chemicals" collectively known as PFAS, be included among the...more
Now that EPA has designated as "hazardous substances" at least two of the hundreds of "forever chemicals" known collectively as PFAS, does it make sense for the hundreds if not thousands of cities and towns across the country...more
This week EPA's Science Advisory Board issued its final report on EPA's assessment of the risks associated with drinking water containing two of the hundreds of forever chemicals collectively known as PFAS. Unless you have a...more
EPA has been cleared by the White House Office of Management and Budget to list two of the hundreds of chemicals collectively known as PFAS as "hazardous substances" under the Federal Superfund statute. This is one of the...more
A committee of the prestigious National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine this week recommended that the blood of perhaps tens of millions of Americans be tested for the presence of the ubiquitous "forever"...more
Massachusetts's Supreme Judicial Court has agreed with a Superior Court Judge that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection was not authorized by the Massachusetts Legislature to defer to certain municipal...more