[WEBINAR] Fairly (or Unfairly?) Traceable: Are Discharges Through Groundwater Subject to the Clean Water Act?
In its recent decision in San Francisco v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Ninth Circuit interpretation of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), the second case in just two years where the Court has disagreed with the EPA’s...more
On March 4, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in City & County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency and clarified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") and state...more
On March 4, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that prohibits the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA” or “the Agency”) from setting qualitative limits based on the condition of the “receiving waters” that...more
On March 4, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision in City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency, narrowing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority under the Clean Water Act...more
On March 4, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in the case City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency, in which it held that “end-result” requirements routinely imposed by the U.S....more
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
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (“SpaceX”) entered into a January 15th Consent Agreement and Final Order (“CAFO”) addressing alleged violations of the Clean...more
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a new draft general stormwater permit that, once finalized, will impose potentially onerous new requirements on more than 4,000 properties in the Charles, Neponset,...more
On November 20, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 published in the Federal Register its Final Designation of stormwater discharges from commercial, industrial, and institutional (CII) properties...more
Sam Hess of Inside EPA and many others are writing about EPA's Halloween Trick or Treat – the publication of a draft Clean Water Act NPDES General Permit that would apply to “commercial, industrial and institutional”...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) is issuing for public comment draft guidance on applying the United States Supreme Court decision in County of Maui vs. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. EPA had previously...more
Three Requests for Hearing and Adjudicatory Review (“Requests”) have been filed before the Arkansas Pollution Control & Ecology Commission (“APC&EC”) challenging a nonmunicipal domestic wastewater treatment facility discharge...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) exercise certain Clean Water Act residual designation authorities to address stormwater discharges in three Massachusetts watersheds. The designations were...more
In last year’s Land Use, Environmental & Natural Resources Update 2021 Update, we reported on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund (County of Maui), 590 U.S. __; 140 S. Ct. 2778 (2020),...more
Due to an April 2020 Supreme Court opinion re-interpreting when a discharge permit is required under the Clean Water Act's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), courts are beginning to address and...more
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided the County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund case in April 2020, the legal landscape of "navigable waters of the U.S." has eroded quickly. With Maui, the Supreme Court created a test for...more
The latest season of Clean Water Act (CWA) changes are now streaming from the courts and federal agencies. The Biden administration and lower courts have picked up where prior administrations and the U.S. Supreme Court left...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) rescinded a guidance document it had previously issued titled: Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean Water Act...more
Withdrawal expands “functional equivalent” test for discharges that the Supreme Court established in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has rescinded January 2020 guidance on...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Environmental Appeals Board (“EAB”) addressed in an August 3rd Opinion a Petition for Review challenging certain conditions of a coal-fired, steam-electric power plant...more
Last week, District Judge Susan Mollway ruled that the County of Maui must obtain a NPDES permit for discharges to groundwater by the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility. It is the first trial court decision applying the...more
Late yesterday, Federal Judge Susan Oki Mollway, of the District of Hawaii, ruled that the County of Maui needs a Federal Clean Water Act NPDES permit for its groundwater discharge of treated water from its waste water...more
Yesterday the Government Accountability Office issued a lengthy report on enforcement of the NPDES provisions of the Federal Clean Water Act permitting discharges to Waters of the United States. Many of you know that all but...more
A recent rulemaking from EPA seeks the assistance of industry and the public in developing new effluent limitation guidelines to regulate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) in wastewater discharges from facilities...more