California stands at a pivotal juncture in 2025, confronting an array of environmental and housing challenges. As usual, the California State Legislature is considering numerous strategies to address these issues. This year’s...more
California’s regulatory authority over “waters of the state” continues to grow even as the federal definition of “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) narrows under shifting legal and regulatory frameworks. In Sackett v. EPA...more
On June 10, 2025, the Washington Department of Ecology (“Ecology”) published a CR-101 Preproposal Statement of Inquiry to develop a new permitting program for projects that could “alter” or “impact” waters of the state. The...more
On April 9, 2025, President Trump directed federal agencies to repeal certain categories of regulations in his memorandum entitled Directing the Repeal of Unlawful Regulations (“Memorandum”). In this Memorandum, President...more
More than 50 years ago, the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA or Act) was enacted by Congress to protect the quality of the Nation’s waters. The scope of that protection has been evolving ever since. Until relatively recently, the...more
The landscape of coastal real estate development in North Carolina has undergone a seismic shift following major regulatory changes over the last few years. For developers eyeing coastal properties, understanding the...more
The orders span various sectors and aim to introduce sunset provisions into regulations and eliminate regulations deemed unlawful or anti-competitive....more
The California legislature continues to advance Senate Bill 601 (SB 601), the “Right to Clean Water Act,” which aims to safeguard protections for California’s streams and wetlands that lost federal protection under the Clean...more
As referenced in last month’s publication, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of the Army (Army) will be hosting numerous separate listening sessions with key stakeholders starting next...more
Beginning on April 29, 2025, the EPA will hold a series of six listening sessions to receive input from stakeholders on key topics related to the regulation of “waters of the United States” (or “WOTUS”) in the wake of the...more
On April 9, the White House issued a memorandum directing federal executive departments and agencies to repeal regulations deemed unlawful pursuant to certain U.S. Supreme Court decisions. This directive aims to address...more
On Monday, March 24, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the “EPA”) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”) issued a Federal Register Notice soliciting stakeholder feedback concerning the implementation...more
The Environmental Protection Agency announced March 10 it will be revising the definition for the Waters of the United States Rule (WOTUS). In a news release it said, “[t]he agencies will move quickly to ensure that a revised...more
With its opinion in San Francisco v. EPA, the U.S. Supreme Court has again acted to "right" the implementation of the federal Clean Water Act by overturning a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit interpretation of the...more
On Aug. 28–29, 2024, approximately 50 people gathered at the University of California San Diego Extension to learn about the California State Water Resources Control Board’s (State Water Board) reissuance of the Construction...more
Discussion of administrative law usually doesn’t happen at the dinner table. But a series of recent US Supreme Court decisions may have changed this introducing talk of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the...more
Both the North and South Carolina legislatures have recently adopted statutes affecting environmental issues in their respective states. This update highlights the most significant developments in North and South Carolina....more
The U.S. Supreme Court significantly reduced the scope of Clean Water Act regulation over wetlands last year in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. Originally Published in Law360. ...more
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) on March 22, 2024, announced its plans for enhancing the protection of the country's wetlands following the U.S. Supreme Court's Sackett v. EPA decision. In Sackett, the Supreme Court...more
EPA picked another Clean Water Act fight with the United States Supreme Court last week and I don't understand why EPA thinks it is a fight it can win. As many of you know, the jurisdictional reach of the Clean Water Act is...more
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Sackett case in May of 2023, the U.S. EPA (“EPA”) and the U.S. Army Corps (“Army Corps”) have amended federal regulations to conform to Sackett and the Army Corps has resumed...more
Recent federal court decisions have changed the way wetlands are regulated in the United States. Here's what you need to know. A Shift in Wetland Regulation: The Sackett Decision and Its Impact In 2023, the U.S. Supreme...more
Environmental and energy issues were in the headlines for much of 2023. We had several major US Supreme Court cases, Canadian wildfires that produced haze in many American cities throughout the summer, and continued attention...more
One hundred eighteen Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives (“House”) introduced legislation titled: Clean Water Act of 2023(H.R. 5983) The stated purpose of H.R. 5983 is to address the...more
The third major development of 2023 for defining "Waters of the United States" ("WOTUS") has arrived. First, in early 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") and the United States Army Corps of...more