Rewriting the Rules: The Supreme Court's Landmark Decision on Clean Water Act Permits
[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
In the US Supreme Court’s first post-Chevron decision involving the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the Supreme Court found against EPA, invalidating ‘end result’ NPDES permit requirements....more
On March 4, 2025 the Supreme Court overturned the 9th Circuit to rule in favor of the City of San Francisco in a landmark Clean Water Act case. The EPA authorizes states to issue National Pollutant Discharge Elimination...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
Companies that produce and discharge pollutants are subject to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) oversight under the Clean Water Act. The EPA routinely conducts inspections focused on federal laws like Oil Pollution...more
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
On November 20, with no fanfare at all, not even a press release, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its Draft Guidance: Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean...more
On November 20, 2023, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Idaho Conservation League v. Poe, No. 22-35978. Therein, the Court upheld its previous interpretation of “discharged” in the context of...more
On November 21, 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision in Cottonwood Environmental Law Center vs. Edwards addressing various Clean Water Act issues. Its two key holdings were that (1) the district court...more
The Mississippi Commission on Environmental Quality (“MCEQ”) and Town of Wesson, Mississippi (“Wesson”) entered into a May 5th Agreed Order (“AO”) addressing alleged violations of a Clean Water Act National Pollutant...more
PFAS are being detected in drinking water systems across the United States. Moreover, evolving regulatory developments already require or soon will require that public water systems sample for and remediate these chemicals....more
This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued guidance advising states how to use National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirements to restrict the discharge of per- and polyfluoroalkyl...more
On December 5, 2022, the U.S. EPA issued a memorandum entitled, Addressing PFAS Discharges in NPDES Permits and Through the Pretreatment Program and Monitoring Programs. The memorandum “provides EPA’s guidance to states and...more
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or “PFAS,” as they have come to be known, are a category of widely-used and long-lasting chemicals found in many consumer, commercial, and industrial products. The human health and...more
The Standells may “love that dirty water” according to their 1966 hit song, but the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) New England region is hoping to reduce stormwater pollution running off industrial, commercial and...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
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on September 14 that it will require new permit coverage for previously unregulated stormwater discharges in Massachusetts. Specifically, EPA intends to issue general...more
Maryland AG Brian Frosh and the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) reached a settlement with poultry processor Valley Proteins, LLC to resolve allegations that Valley Proteins illegally discharged pollutants into a...more
On October 18, 2021, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its PFAS Strategic Roadmap (Roadmap or Plan), the agency's new approach to comprehensively addressing the threat to public health and the environment...more
In a press conference on October 26, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it intends to partially grant a petition from New Mexico requesting the listing of per and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS)...more
On October 18, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released its PFAS Strategic Roadmap: EPA’s Commitments to Action 2021-2024 (the “PFAS Roadmap”). This widely anticipated plan further expands EPA’s...more