The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently published draft guidance on how to apply the “functional equivalent” test created by the Supreme Court in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020).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Draft Guidance ,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
On April 23, 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund that a federal permit is required under the Clean Water Act (CWA) when a discharge to groundwater is the “functional equivalent” of a...more
4/28/2020
/ Appeals ,
Clean Water Act ,
Direct Discharge ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Environmental Violations ,
Functional Equivalent ,
Groundwater ,
Hawaii Wildlife Fund v County of Maui ,
Navigable Waters ,
NPDES ,
Permits ,
Point Sources ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Vacated ,
Waters of the United States
On January 23, 2020, the Trump Administration issued a final rule revising the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). The Navigable Waters Protection Rule narrows the...more
2/27/2020
/ Clean Water Act ,
Clean Water Rule ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Jurisdiction ,
Final Rules ,
Navigable Waters ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trump Administration ,
US Army Corps of Engineers ,
Waters of the United States
In consideration of a request for a writ of certiorari in the cases County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, No. 18-260 and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners v. Upstate Forever, No. 18-268, the US Supreme Court invited the views...more
1/11/2019
/ Clean Water Act ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Groundwater ,
Kinder Morgan ,
Navigable Waters ,
NPDES ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
SCOTUS ,
Solicitor General
On September 24, 2018, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the Clean Water Act (CWA) does not require a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the discharges of pollutants to...more
Last week, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Clean Water Act (CWA) does not require that pollutants be discharged directly from a point source into navigable waters for liability to attach. In...more