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
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
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
Just two months into President Trump’s second term, project applicants are navigating a series of changes to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 permitting. Upon his inauguration, President...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
The United States House of Representatives voted on a partisan-basis to pass H.R. 7023 which is titled: Creating Confidence in Clean Water Permitting Act....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
“Error: 404 not found.” The dreaded message you see when you visit a website that no longer exists. A District of Columbia federal district court judge ended the existence of Florida’s “404 program” (for protection of federal...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
Dear YouDig?, We bought a gorgeous waterfront lot on the shores of Lake Erie near the adventurous Lake Erie Islands. We love being on the water and we love boating so naturally we wanted our own dock and breakwall. Turns...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
The California coast offers significant potential for offshore wind development that can help the state reach its renewable energy goals. Developers of wind energy projects located off the California coast will face a number...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
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