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EPA Issues Emergency New Rule on Waters of the United States

Using a rarely invoked exception to the Administrative Procedure Act’s requirement for public notice and comment prior to issuing a new rule, the EPA set forth a new rule governing jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Believing that this new rule was urgently needed in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court eviscerating the […]

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MK

Will the Sackett Test Clarify the Reach of Clean Water Act Jurisdiction?

by Michael C. Ford “Sackett” may be poised to become a part of the Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdictional lexicon, joining the likes of Rapanos, significant nexus, relatively permanent, and Solid Waste Agency of Cook County, on the tip of every Clean Water Act practitioner’s tongue.  In a surprise move, the Supreme Court of the […]

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Trump Administration’s Clean Water Rule to Remain as Agencies Seek its Revision

by Patrick J. Paul On Wednesday, July 14, 2021, a federal court in South Carolina allowed the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), defining the scope of Clean Water Act jurisdiction, to remain in place while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) work on a replacement […]

EPA to Revisit Clean Water Act WOTUS Rule

by Patrick J. Paul On June 9, 2021, in a move that came as a surprise only for its delay in being announced and not at all in the substance of the announcement itself, the EPA and US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) announced their intent to revise the definition of “waters of the United […]

The Rush is On for Jurisdictional Determinations

by Mitchell J. Klein The EPA and the Corps of Engineers are seeing an unprecedented amount of requests for determining whether or not an activity impacts a Water of the United States and triggers Clean Water Act restrictions and permitting. As the lawsuits challenging the current rule begin to move forward, and the current administration […]

MK

Ninth Circuit Wetlands Ruling Muddies the Waters for Development Nationwide

by John W. Andrews On Thursday, May 28, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declined to stay on appeal a lower court ruling which has already had a nationwide impact on permitting of oil and gas pipelines that cross streams and wetlands.  The underlying dispute arose from the long-standing controversy over […]

WOTUS Redefined: The New Definition of Waters of the United States

by Farris J. Gillman On April 21, 2020, the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finalized a new definition of waters of the United States (sometimes called “WOTUS”). This new definition has fundamental implications for the application of point source permits under Section 402 (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) and dredge and fill permits […]

FG
Former Associate

Cooperative Federalism and the Clean Water Act: The States Finally Get their Due

by Michael C. Ford, Lucas J. Narducci and Patrick J. Paul There is no shortage of dramatic, if not predictable, commentary in the wake of the Trump Administration’s release of its “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” (“Rule”) ranging from the indignant to the hyperbolic, and the outright inane: This bulldozing of clean water protections would be […]

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Shutdown Reflections on WOTUS

by Michael C. Ford The partial government shutdown that began December 22, 2018 has interrupted the Trump administration’s proposal to revise the Clean Water Act’s definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS Proposal).  The pre-publication version of the WOTUS Proposal was released on December 11, 2018.[1]  Less than a week after the shutdown began, […]

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Trump EPA Proposes Limitations to WOTUS Rule

by Patrick J. Paul In a long anticipated move, on Tuesday December 11, 2018 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed further revisions to the federal Clean Water Act’s definition of “waters of the United States,” (WOTUS), clawing back the number of waterways subject to federal protection that was expanded greatly during the Obama Administration […]

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