Lake Meredith is a reservoir located about 30 miles northeast of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle. It was formed when the State of Texas built the Sanford Dam on the Canadian River in 1965. When the dam was completed the...more
UPDATE: On May 17, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers appealed the district court ruling in Texas v. EPA to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. This appeal would...more
In Chernaik v. Brown, the Oregon Supreme Court rejected claims by young climate activists that the public trust doctrine compelled government action to combat climate change. The lawsuit was part of a broader local and...more
On January 23rd the United States Environmental Protection Agency and United States Corps of Engineers (collectively “EPA”) announced the finalization of a new rule addressing the Clean Water Act definition of Waters of the...more
At the end of the December, the EPA Science Advisory Board posted the text of a letter that the SAB intends to send to Administrator Wheeler concerning the administration’s proposed revision to the WOTUS rule. The SAB’s...more
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) published a rule on October 23, 2019, repealing the Clean Water Rule promulgated by the Obama administration in 2015. The rule, which...more
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
The US Supreme Court may be poised to review two 2018 decisions in the Fourth and Ninth Circuits, both of which applied the so-called ‘hydrological connection” theory to extend jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) to...more
Fulfilling one of President Trump’s campaign promises, on December 11, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of the Army (the Corps) signed a proposed rule to limit the scope of the...more
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have issued their long-awaited proposed rule to define "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS) pursuant to the Clean Water Act, fulfilling an early...more
On August 29, 2018, the Third Appellate District published its long-awaited opinion in Environmental Law Foundation v. State Water Resources Control Board (“ELF”), a case involving a challenge to Siskiyou County’s (“County”)...more
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
In late August, EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced an extension of the public comment period for a proposal to recodify a pre-existing rule defining the scope of waters of the United States. The...more
A case currently pending in the Ninth Circuit raises a significant and novel issue of western water law. The case addresses whether the public trust doctrine can authorize modification of a water rights decree and...more
The California Supreme Court is currently considering a petition that raises an important and novel issue of California water law: whether the public trust doctrine applies to groundwater. The public trust doctrine holds that...more