Rewriting the Rules: The Supreme Court's Landmark Decision on Clean Water Act Permits
H2-OWOW! – A Reflective Conversation with John Goodin, Former Director of EPA’s Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds – Reflections on Water Podcast
Reflections on Sackett - Reflections on Water Podcast
On-Demand Webinar | Linear Infrastructure Redux: Adapting Your Projects to Meet the New Regulatory Climate
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and Nevada Tri Partners, LLC (“NTP”), and Damonte Ranch Commerce Center, LLC (“Damonte”) entered into a July 1st Consent Agreement and Final Order (“CAFO”) addressing...more
In this episode of Digging Into Land Use Law, Byron Gee, Willis Hon and Sara Johnson review in detail the recent Supreme Court opinion in City and County of San Francisco vs. EPA and its implications for Clean Water Act...more
On March 12, 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and the Army Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”) issued a Memorandum outlining new guidance on implementing the “continuous surface connection” standard in...more
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 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 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
In Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Supreme Court held that Clean Water Act-regulated “waters of the United States” (“WOTUS”) are limited to relatively permanent bodies of water connected to traditional...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
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
In January 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Agencies) adopted a final rule altering the definition of "waters of the United States" (WOTUS), a key term that is referred to...more
Ranking members from both the United States House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment prepared an analysis titled: Murky Water: Navigating...more
Earlier this week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed EPA’s NPDES permit issued to San Francisco’s Oceanside sewer system. San Francisco had challenged the permit on the ground that EPA does not have authority to...more
Sullivan's Permitting & Land Use Practice Group and Litigation Department have released the second issue of their Zoning and Development Newsletter. The publication aims to provide our firm's clients and others interested...more
Just last week, on October 3, 2022, Sackett v. EPA found itself once again before the U.S. Supreme Court for oral arguments, its first appearance at SCOTUS having been a decade before. In January 2022, when the Supreme Court...more
The first Monday in October is just around the corner, and the first oral argument on the Supreme Court’s agenda is Sackett v. EPA. The Supreme Court is stepping once more into Clean Water Act “waters of the United States,”...more
On January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari on a fundamental environmental law question that has lingered for several decades - what is the appropriate definition of "waters of the United States" (WOTUS) in...more
A combination of federal wetland regulatory actions presents substantial uncertainty for regulated parties as they navigate wetland delineation and permitting processes for their projects. These concerns are compounded in...more
On January 5, 2022, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE”) quietly released an announcement stating that it will not rely on approved jurisdictional determinations (“AJDs”) issued under the now-vacated Navigable Waters...more
On January 5, 2022, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced that Approved Jurisdictional Determinations (AJDs) issued before August 30, 2021, are no longer valid for new permit decisions. USACE uses AJDs...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
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
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
On 14 January 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a guidance memorandum on the application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 23 April 2020 decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund (Maui)....more
On December 17, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") announced their approval of the State of Florida’s request to administer federal wetlands permitting under the Clean Water Act ("CWA") Section 404 Program...more
On April 23, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a groundbreaking ruling in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, 140 S. Ct. 1462 (2020), holding that a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System...more