On Tuesday, March 4, the United States Supreme Court issued a major decision limiting the scope of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA) as relates to permits governing...more
On May 25, 2023, the United States Supreme Court held that the term “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”)—as used in the federal Clean Water Act (“CWA”), 33 U.S.C. § 1362(7)—means “streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes” and...more
6/8/2023
/ Clean Water Act ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Inland Waterways ,
Navigable Waters ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Sackett ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Significant Nexus Test ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
In one of the most significant environmental opinions of our time, the Supreme Court held in West Virginia v. EPA that Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act does not give the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authority to...more
7/11/2022
/ Clean Air Act ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Power Plants ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Regulatory History ,
SCOTUS ,
West Virginia v EPA
On May 26, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to allow the Biden administration to continue using the social cost of carbon estimates in its regulatory analyses, developed pursuant to an executive order from President Joe Biden....more
6/14/2022
/ Biden Administration ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
NHTSA ,
Obama Administration ,
SCOTUS ,
Stays ,
Trump Administration
On May 26, 2022, the United States Supreme Court ruled to allow the Biden Administration to continue using the social cost of carbon estimates in its regulatory analyses, developed pursuant to President Biden’s Executive...more
Yesterday the Supreme Court stayed the Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s (OSHA) vaccination and testing emergency temporary standard (ETS), resolving months of legal uncertainty over its fate. In blocking the...more
On March 4, 2021, the US Supreme Court held that draft biological opinions prepared by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) were subject to the deliberative process privilege...more
3/15/2021
/ Endangered Species Act (ESA) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
FOIA ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Privileged Communication ,
Privileged Documents ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Agencies ,
Public Records ,
SCOTUS ,
Sierra Club ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service ,
US Fish and Wildlife Service v Sierra Club
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published draft guidance on how to apply the “functional equivalent” test created by the Supreme Court in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020). The...more
12/17/2020
/ Clean Water Act ,
Direct Discharge ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Draft Guidance ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Functional Equivalent ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Navigable Waters ,
Point Sources ,
SCOTUS