The U.S. Supreme Court held, 6-3, that the "functional equivalent of a direct discharge" of pollutants requires a CWA permit, and remanded for consideration of whether a discharge of pollutants into groundwater that later discharged into the Pacific Ocean meets this standard. Environmental groups ar...
Throughout the world, people struggle to gain access to stable sources of clean water. While there are increasingly innovative solutions being developed, many communities simply do not have access to efficient, centralized wastewater management systems, and as a result, face difficulty finding reliable sources of water for daily use. There is a great need to implement novel systems that can fill the gap, especially for isolated or “off-grid” communities.
A district court upheld a CWA §404 permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted to authorize the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) to discharge dredge-and-fill materials into nearby waters during construction of a light rail project, known as the Purple Line project, that would connect subur...
Drinking water contamination in Flint, Michigan, has garnered much-needed nationwide attention, but such contamination is neither isolated, nor a primarily urban problem. A hidden water crisis is straining thousands of smaller communities that share Flint’s risk factors—shrinking populations, social marginalization, and deficient funds. This Article posits that the Safe Drinking Water Act’s increasingly decentralized monitoring and funding scheme has drained communities of the capacity to deliver safe water.
A district court denied summary judgment to an environmental group challenging the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers' issuance of a CWA §404 permit for development of an additional portion of an existing residential subdivision in Virginia Beach. The group argued the issuance was arbitrary and capricious...
A district court denied a motion to dismiss a challenge to NMFS' decision to issue incidental harassment authorizations to five companies to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas in the Mid- and South Atlantic Ocean. South Carolina challenged President Trump's reversal via Executive Order No. 1379...
A district court dismissed a lawsuit challenging two protocol agreements entered into by Native American tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs that established procedures for enforcement of the tribes' water rights in the Upper Klamath Basin. A group of ranchers and landowners argued that the agre...
The Seventh Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's approval of a CWA §404 permit for a proposed mine along the Menominee River. A Native American tribe argued that EPA and the Corps should have exercised authority over the permit because circ...
A district court denied motions to remand and vacate EPA's decision to allow a no-discharge zone in Puget Sound. A tugboat, towboat, and barge industry group argued that EPA erred in determining that adequate pump-out facilities were reasonably available without considering the compliance costs for ...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed judgment for environmental groups in a CWA challenge to compel EPA to develop and issue long-overdue temperature TMDLs for the Columbia and Snake Rivers. The groups argued that inaction by Oregon and Washington to issue TMDLs for the two rivers amounted to a "constructive ...