On April 10, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the final National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for six PFAS compounds. The final rule follows issuance of a proposed rule on March 14, 2023, which was...more
ASTM Standard E1527-13 died quietly on February 13, 2024, after a year of peaceful co-existence with its successor - ASTM Standard E1527-21. Both of the standards, which describe the methodology for conducting a Phase I...more
On November 20, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued Draft Guidance, again attempting to interpret the Supreme Court decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund and describe in practical terms...more
On July 12, 2023, Shortly after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA and the Department of the Army issued a letter advising the ranking member of the Senate’s Committee on Environment...more
“On three prior occasions, this Court has tried to clarify the meaning of ‘the waters of the United States.’ But the problem persists. When we last addressed the question 17 years ago, we were unable to agree on an opinion of...more
On Tuesday, March 14, EPA released pre-publication proposed Maximum Contaminant Limits (MCLs) for six specific per- or poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also referred to colloquially as “forever chemicals” and “emerging...more
EPA and the US Army Corps of Engineers announced on Friday, December 30, 2022, the final, pre-publication version of a “Revised Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’ [“WOTUS”]” rule. This 2022 WOTUS Rule will become...more
The Biden administration has not hidden the ball on its environmental priorities, and has been very clear that tackling PFAS, a family of chemical compounds sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” was near the top of the...more
You can be forgiven if you aren’t sure how jurisdictional waters are currently defined in the United States. Since 2015, the definition of Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, has changed more often than a college freshman...more
On April 13, House lawmakers on Capitol Hill introduced the PFAS Action Act of 2021, a bill that would require the EPA to institute a federal drinking water standard for two specific PFAS compounds....more
On December 2, 1970, the United States Environmental Protection Agency opened its doors for the first time. The new agency, created by the Executive Order of President Nixon, was cobbled together from bits and pieces of...more
Since 1996, federal agencies have been required to review and adjust their statutory civil monetary penalties for inflation under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act. Initially, these adjustments were made...more
Under newly finalized rule, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would be required to uniformly document the benefit-cost analysis (BCA) for all significant rulemakings under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The final rule,...more
On Tuesday, December 8, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Draft Guidance Memorandum attempting to place the recent Supreme Court decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund “into context...more
12/14/2020
/ Clean Water Act ,
Comment Period ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Draft Guidance ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Functional Equivalent ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
NPDES ,
Permits ,
Point Sources ,
SCOTUS
In 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took the policy position that state implementation plans, or SIPs, cannot provide for relaxed air emission standards during Startup, Shutdown, and Malfunction...more
On July 30, 2020, New York state joined the growing ranks of state and local governments directly regulating PFAS. The newly established maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) will eventually require all public water systems in...more
The silence you are hearing is no one being surprised.
The limits of the phrase “waters of the United States” within the Clean Water Act (CWA) have been the subject of conflicting, confusing, and often divergent case law...more
On June 29, 2020, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released an addendum to its previously announced COVID-19 Enforcement Policy, effectively setting a termination date of August 31, 2020, for the...more
EPA issued its Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification Final Rule on June 1, 2020 in an effort to comply with the directives of Executive Order 13868 promoting efficient permitting and timely agency actions. Section 401...more
Regulatory agencies frequently find themselves making decisions in the face of widely divergent viewpoints. Much like the heroine of the “Three Bears” nursery tale, these agencies often try to find a position that is “just...more
On April 23, 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the addition of pollutants to groundwater which travels a half mile to enter navigable waters is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge, and subject to...more
4/24/2020
/ Appeals ,
Clean Water Act ,
Direct Discharge ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Functional Equivalent ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Navigable Waters ,
Permits ,
Point Sources ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Vacated ,
Waters of the United States
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released a memorandum on Thursday, March 26, 2020, addressing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the agency’s Enforcement and Compliance Assistance Program. The...more