A federal judge in California declined to enjoin implementation of the rule, holding that in view of ambiguous Supreme Court guidance, the government is free to reinterpret WOTUS. The opposite conclusion was reached by a...more
On June 1, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its new rules implementing section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Section 401 provides that before a federal agency can approve a project that may result...more
On May 15, 2020, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) submitted a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in which it objected to EPA's draft water quality discharge permits (NPDES permits)...more
In a 6-3 opinion, the U. S. Supreme Court decided one of the more closely followed environmental disputes of recent years. In County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, the Court considered whether injecting municipal sewage...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
Among the barrage of news reports related to state and federal responses to COVID-19, less discussed is the suspension of some environmental compliance obligations for regulated entities affected by the crisis....more
The EPA yesterday announced that the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, jointly proposed by EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers in June 2019, is now final. ...more
On December 9, the Supreme Court denied certiorari to review the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC. As reported in this space, in January the D.C. Circuit roundly rejected the common practice...more
What is the jurisdictional reach of the Clean Water Act? The Act applies to “navigable waters”, which are defined as the “waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.”...more
As part of the Administration’s policy in favor of domestic oil and gas development, on April 10 President Trump issued an Executive Order “Promoting Energy Infrastructure and Economic Growth.” ...more
In a rare moment of clarity in the benighted history of the Waters of the United States or WOTUS rule, a unanimous Supreme Court declared that jurisdiction to review the WOTUS rule lies in the District Courts and not the...more
Last Thursday, I posted about EPA apparently looking at resetting the approach to the Portland Harbor Superfund site. I believe that the cost associated with the cleanup plan contained in Region 10’s Record of Decision (ROD)...more
Although no official pronouncement has been issued, it appears that EPA Headquarters is looking at resetting the scoreboard for the Portland Harbor Superfund site. EPA had already signaled that it would be reviewing...more
The Trump Administration has begun rulemaking to undo the controversial rule defining “waters of the United States” or WOTUS. In the July 27 Federal Register, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers jointly announced that it is...more
While the Trump Administration has struggled overall to develop and implement coherent policies, the Administration has had some success in the environmental sphere. Through a series of presidential memoranda, executive...more
In a recent editorial, the Wall Street Journal celebrates the new priorities being set by Scott Pruitt’s EPA. Mr. Pruitt, in the Journal’s opinion, is properly elevating the “more immediate” problem of Superfund sites over...more
With a flourish of his pen, on February 28 President Trump signed an Executive Order aimed at dismantling the ill-fated Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. The rule was the latest attempt by EPA and the Army Corps of...more
In June 2015, EPA and the Corps of Engineers released a draft rule to define “waters of the United States,” affectionately referred to as WOTUS. This definition goes to the scope of federal jurisdiction over wetlands and...more
Does this make sense to you? Eighteen states petitioned the Sixth Circuit to challenge the new rule adopted by EPA and the Corps of Engineers defining “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. Then the...more
With so many challenges filed in so many venues to EPA’s Waters of the United States or WOTUS rule, it seemed inevitable that some plaintiffs somewhere would find a sympathetic court. And so it is that thirteen states found...more
Wednesday, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers released a prepublication version of the final rule defining “waters of the United States,” the jurisdictional trigger under the Clean Water Act. The term needs defining because...more
The Science Advisory Board has at last released its peer review of EPA’s draft report on Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters: A Review and Synthesis, the technical support for the proposed rule on...more
On September 15, the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) released a paper produced by the American College of Environmental Lawyers (ACOEL) on the new “waters of the U.S.” rules proposed by EPA and the Army Corps of...more
Federal agencies face growing opposition from members of Congress and industry regarding a proposed definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The scope of federal jurisdiction under the CWA...more
EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers continue their ongoing effort to bring clarity to the tangled mess wrought by the Supreme Court in Rapanos v. U. S. In that 2006 case, a fractured Court issued five separate opinions on the...more
I get it that environmental groups place strict compliance with regulatory controls at a premium. After all, the standards are designed to be protective of the resource, and they are The Law, which must be obeyed....more