The Ninth Circuit, 2-1, denied a municipal irrigation district's request to compel a district court to remand to state court its motion for preliminary injunction in a suit concerning water allocation in the Klamath Basin. The district initially sought to stop the Bureau of Reclamation from releasin...
EPA Region 4 proposed to reissue the NPDES general permit for the outer continental shelf of the Gulf of Mexico for discharges in the offshore subcategory of the oil and gas extraction point source category.
EPA finalized clarifications to its NPDES Stormwater Phase II regulations due to recent changes made by the Census Bureau, clarifying that the designation criteria for small municipal separate storm sewer systems will remain the same.
CEQ requested input to inform the development of an Ocean Justice Strategy, which will describe the vision, goals, and high-level objectives for coordinating and guiding ocean justice activities across the federal government.
A district court granted in part and denied in part an environmental group's motion for summary judgment in a CWA citizen suit concerning the Forest Service's discharge of aerially deployed fire retardant into navigable waters of the United States without an NPDES permit. The group argued the Servic...
The U.S. Supreme Court held that the CWA extends to only those "wetlands with a continuous surface connection to bodies that are 'waters of the United States' in their own right," such that they are indistinguishable from those waters, in a challenge to an EPA compliance order stating that landowner...
United States v. Eastman Chemical Resins, Inc., No. 2:23-cv-00867-MJH (W.D. Pa. May 24, 2023). Settling CWA, CAA, and RCRA defendants must perform injunctive relief, including conducting a third-party environmental audit, implementing effluent limit violations response requirements, performing facility specific work and repairs, completing comprehensive stormwater and groundwater control plans, and implementing a RCRA-based training program and daily inspection requirements; as well as pay a $2.4 million civil penalty in connection with alleged violations at a hydrocarbon resins manufacturing facility in Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania.
EPA Region 9 proposed to reissue a general NPDES permit for water discharges from facilities classified as low threat located in the Navajo Nation.
The Department of State and NOAA seek public comment on the proposed scope for the upcoming United States Ocean Acidification Action Plan, which will highlight leadership in reducing carbon emissions; strengthening monitoring, research, and coordination research efforts; and investing in adaptive measures.
The Sixth Circuit granted the Commonwealth of Kentucky's and business groups' motions to preliminarily enjoin EPA's and the Army Corps of Engineers' 2023 rule revising the definition of "waters of the United States" under the CWA. A district court had denied the motions, concluding plaintiffs lacked...