News & Analysis as of

Navigable Waters Environmental Policies Discharge of Pollutants

Troutman Pepper Locke

To Waive or Not to Waive? That Is the 401 Question

Troutman Pepper Locke on

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on May 16, 2025, clarified the conditions under which a state waives its Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 water quality certification (WQC) authority. In Village of Morrisville...more

Allen Matkins

Dissecting Discharges: Recent Ninth Circuit Rulings and EPA Guidelines Interpreting the Clean Water Act

Allen Matkins on

November was an eventful month for the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued two decisions last month—which will apply to cases and matters in California and other states within the Ninth...more

Akerman LLP

WOTUS, SCOTUS, and POTUS—Act III (Or Is it Act IV?)

Akerman LLP on

Section 404 of the Clean Water Act of 1972, 33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq., prohibits the discharge of dredged or fill material into “navigable waters” without a permit. Section 502(7) of that act defines “navigable waters”...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

EPA Publishes Final Rule Revising Definition of “Waters of the United States”

Husch Blackwell LLP on

On January 18, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the Department of the Army published a new final rule to re-define “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) under the Federal Clean Water Act (“CWA”)....more

Jenner & Block

EPA Proposes Hazardous Substance Facility Response Plan Regulations; Includes Climate Change and Environmental Justice...

Jenner & Block on

On March 11, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced it was proposing new regulations that would require certain facilities located close to navigable waters create and submit Facility Response Plans...more

Jenner & Block

WOTUS to Get The SCOTUS Treatment, Again

Jenner & Block on

On January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on the scope and authority of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”). The Court granted certiorari in the case of Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,...more

Stinson LLP

How Can We Chart a Course on Navigable Waters?

Stinson LLP on

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

Robinson+Cole Manufacturing Law Blog

Federal Court Strikes Down Trump Administration Clean Water Rule

On August 30, 2021, a federal court in Arizona struck down the Trump WOTUS rule, citing the serious errors in enacting the rule, as well as the serious environmental harm that it has caused....more

Nossaman LLP

Navigable Waters Protection Rule Vacated

Nossaman LLP on

On August 30, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona vacated the April 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule in which the Trump Administration revised the definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS)....more

Robinson+Cole Manufacturing Law Blog

Binge-Watching the Clean Water Act Cases and Rules

In these days of working from home and managing countless other demands on our time, we offer this post to help you decide whether to add the latest Clean Water Act (CWA) cases and rules to your must-see legal watch list....more

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real...

SCOTUS, Having Received Views of Solicitor General, Will Decide Whether CWA Regulates Indirect Discharge of Pollutants Into...

Prior to deciding whether to review an important February 1, 2018, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision involving the jurisdictional reach of the Clean Water Act (CWA), Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, et al., v. County...more

Womble Bond Dickinson

SCOTUS Will Review a Portion of the County of Maui Case Involving a Clean Water Act Citizen Suit

Womble Bond Dickinson on

The U.S. Supreme Court recently decided to take up review of a circuit court conflict regarding the jurisdictional reach of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”). On February 19, 2019, the Court partially granted a petition for writ of...more

Burr & Forman

SCOTUS Will Decide Scope of Clean Water Act Jurisdiction

Burr & Forman on

On February 19, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an order granting review of the Ninth Circuit’s decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, setting the stage for a landmark decision on Clean Water...more

Cole Schotz

Clean Water Act Jurisdiction Expansion? Supreme Court Takes Up Circuit Court Debate Over Groundwater Discharges To Navigable...

Cole Schotz on

The United States Supreme Court agreed to consider the issue of whether a Federal Clean Water Act (“CWA”) permit is required for discharges of pollutants from point sources that reach CWA navigable waters through a...more

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

Does a Discharge to Groundwater Require a Clean Water Act NPDES Permit?: U.S. Solicitor General Supreme Court Filing Addressing...

The United States Solicitor General (“SG”) filed a brief related to the Petitions for Writs of Certiorari addressing Ninth and Fourth Circuit decisions titled: County of Maui, Hawaii, Petitioner v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund et...more

Burr & Forman

Solicitor General Urges SCOTUS to Resolve Groundwater Circuit Split

Burr & Forman on

On January 3, 2019, the U.S. Solicitor General filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund to decide the question of whether a “discharge of a pollutant…occurs when a...more

WilmerHale

Solicitor General Asks Supreme Court to Review the Decisions Adopting the Groundwater as Conduit Theory

WilmerHale on

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

Burr & Forman

SCOTUS Seeks Views of Solicitor General in Groundwater Cases

Burr & Forman on

On December 3, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States took a rare step in specifying a deadline by which the U.S. Solicitor General may offer input in two certiorari petitions involving the scope of the Clean Water Act....more

Robinson & Cole LLP

Courts Still Trying to Plug the Clean Water Act’s Holes: Meanwhile, Tanks, Pipes, Pits, and Other Leaking Facilities Remain...

Robinson & Cole LLP on

OVERVIEW - In the past year, federal circuit courts have already issued five decisions addressing the question of whether permitting obligations and other liability under the Clean Water Act (CWA) apply to leaking pits,...more

Bricker Graydon LLP

Sixth Circuit rules that the Clean Water Act does not regulate discharges to navigable waters via groundwater

Bricker Graydon LLP on

In two opinions issued on September 24, 2018, the Sixth Circuit ruled that discharges of a pollutant to surface waters through groundwater do not require a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, pursuant to...more

Allen Matkins

Clean Water Act Permit May Be Required for Pollution Discharged Indirectly into Navigable Waters

Allen Matkins on

A Clean Water Act permit is required for discharging wastewater from injection wells into groundwater where wastewater is “fairly traceable” to navigable waters, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held in Hawai’i...more

Burr & Forman

EPA Seeks Comments on Discharges of Pollutants to Groundwater

Burr & Forman on

On February 20, the Environmental Protection Agency published in the Federal Register a request for comments on a longstanding EPA policy regarding the question of whether and to what extent discharges to groundwater might be...more

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