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Clean Water Act › Water › Supreme Court of the United States

The Clean Water Act is a United States federal statute enacted in 1972 to reduce levels of toxic substances in the nation's water supply and to prevent high levels of new contamination.  The CWA seeks to... more +
The Clean Water Act is a United States federal statute enacted in 1972 to reduce levels of toxic substances in the nation's water supply and to prevent high levels of new contamination.  The CWA seeks to accomplish its stated goals by preventing point and nonpoint pollution sources, assisting wastewater treatment facilities and maintaining wetlands. less -
Morgan Lewis

In Yet Another Decision Restricting EPA Authority, US Supreme Court Holds EPA Cannot Set CWA Permit Limits

Morgan Lewis on

The US Supreme Court held in City and County of San Francisco v. EPA that the US Environmental Protection Agency lacks authority under the Clean Water Act to include “end-result” limitations in National Pollutant Discharge...more

Stoel Rives - Environmental Law Blog

SCOTUS Strikes Down “End-Result” Limitations in NPDES Permits

Stoel Rives - Environmental Law Blog on

Whether issued by an authorized State or the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit issued under the Clean Water Act allows a permittee to discharge...more

King & Spalding

Supreme Court Rules EPA’s Wastewater Discharge Permits May Not Include “End-Result” Provisions

King & Spalding on

In an important environmental decision, the Supreme Court narrowed the range of discharge limitations under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) for wastewater discharges. On March 4, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court held the CWA does not...more

Jackson Walker

U.S. Supreme Court Limits EPA’s Wastewater Permitting Authority in Major Clean Water Act Decision

Jackson Walker on

On March 4, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency[i], which restricted the scope of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”)...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Generic Prohibitions/NPDES Permits/Water Quality Standards: United States Supreme Court Decides City/County of San Francisco v....

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,... on

The Supreme Court of the United States (“Court”) issued an Opinion on March 4th in the case styled: City and County of San Francisco, California v. Environmental Protection Agency. See No. 23-753....more

Allen Matkins

California Environmental Law & Policy Update 2.7.25

Allen Matkins on

Newly-appointed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a memo this Wednesday that the Justice Department will reverse a Biden-era directive to prioritize enforcement of environmental laws in disadvantaged and low-income...more

Mintz

Clean Energy Developers Beware! EPA will prosecute you for runoff from your solar farm sites.

Mintz on

EPA issued a press release yesterday that caught my eye and if you're in the business of building things, including solar projects, it is worthy of your attention too. The press release announces a settlement between a solar...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

Post-Sackett, Who Will Speak for the Clean Water Act?

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on

Earlier this month, in Lewis v. United States the 5th Circuit issued a decision interpreting the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA. The 5th Circuit decision is a model of clarity and demonstrates what I’ll call the...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

EPA Proposes A Section 401 “Improvement Rule” — Now That’s a Low Bar

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on

Last week, EPA released its proposed “Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification Improvement Rule”. The proposed rule would make a number of significant changes to the rule promulgated by EPA in 2020....more

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real...

In Review: SCOTUS Environmental and Administrative Decisions in the 2020 Term

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real... on

Several decisions of interest were issued in the 2020 term, which stretched from October 2020 until early July 2021. This review will concentrate on environmental and administrative law cases....more

(ACOEL) | American College of Environmental...

Twenty Years of Waterkeeper Alliance: How the Waterkeeper Movement Shaped and Was Shaped by U.S. Environmental Law

(ACOEL) | American College of Environmental... on

In the late 1980s, when I was an associate at the environmental boutique law firm of Berle, Kass, and Case in New York City, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and John Cronin came to visit the firm to discuss a new project they had...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Does a Discharge to Groundwater Require a Clean Water Act NPDES Permit?: Brief of Amici Curiae National Association of Clean Water...

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,... on

The National Association of Clean Water Agencies (“NACWA”) and other municipalities filed an Amicus Brief in the pending Supreme Court of the United States case styled County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, et al....more

Perkins Coie

Agencies Release Proposed Rule to Limit Clean Water Act Jurisdiction

Perkins Coie on

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers announced a proposed rule to redefine the term “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act on December 11, 2018. The proposed rule, which awaits...more

Butler Snow LLP

SCOTUS Leaves Bush-Era EPA Water Transfer Rule Alone

Butler Snow LLP on

Last week, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear an important water rights case involving whether water can be transferred from one water body without a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”).  As...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Could Lead to “Inconsistencies, Uncertainty, and Confusion” in Waters and Wetlands Regulatory Regime

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on

On January 22, 2018, the United States Supreme Court ruled unanimously in National Association of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense that legal challenges to an Obama Administration regulation defining “waters of the...more

Snell & Wilmer

Up to the Minute Synopsis of Clean Water Act Jurisdiction Developments

Snell & Wilmer on

Keeping track of the ongoing administrative and judicial developments on the issue of Clean Water Act jurisdiction has become almost as complex as trying to make a jurisdictional determination itself. Here is a handy synopsis...more

Allen Matkins

California Environmental Law & Policy Update - June 2016

Allen Matkins on

Environmental and Policy Focus - U.S. Supreme Court allows pre-permit challenges to approved jurisdictional determinations - Allen Matkins - May 31 - In a major new legal development for the Clean Water Act's...more

Perkins Coie

Supplement — Curtin’s California Land Use

Perkins Coie on

This Supplement is intended for use in conjunction with Curtin’s California Land Use & Planning Law, Thirty-Fourth Edition (2014), authored by Perkins Coie attorneys Cecily Talbert Barclay and Matthew S. Gray. In lieu of...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

“Waters of the U.S.” — What’s Not To Understand?

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP on

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

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