Congress in the 2020s has authorized three new environmentally focused grant programs relating to western waters and appropriated $450 million in multi-year funding. The Bureau of Reclamation is responsible for creating and implementing these programs, giving it a new tool and resources for addressing stubborn environmental problems—some caused by the Bureau’s many dams.
Green startups play a crucial role in the transition to a sustainable economy, yet there is a gap in the literature about the legal and policy challenges these startups face. This Article seeks to fill that gap through interviews, surveys, and focus groups with senior law firm partners experienced in advising green startups, senior pro bono counsel and staff, chief executive officers of early-stage green startups, and senior staff at nonprofit legal aid groups.
The U.S. Supreme Court's October Term 2022 had major implications for environmental law, including its most significant Clean Water Act decision ever. Upcoming cases in October Term 2023 have the potential to be just as impactful. On September 25, 2023, the Environmental Law Institute hosted a panel of experts who provided an overview of key rulings and major take-aways from the Court’s prior term, and discussed cases that have been granted review or are likely to be considered by the justices in the upcoming term.
EPA adjusted the level of the maximum and minimum statutory civil monetary penalty amounts under the statutes it administers.
EPA proposed to promulgate an aquatic life designated use that includes propagation and protective water quality criteria for dissolved oxygen for Zone 3, Zone 4, and upper Zone 5 of the Delaware River.
EPA approved Texas’ revisions to its Public Water System Supervision program that adopted the Agency’s drinking water rules for the Revised Total Coliform Rule and Ground Water Rule.
EPA proposed to establish new and revised human health water quality criteria for certain pollutants in the state of Florida.
United States v. Chattanooga, City of, No. 1:12-cv-00245 (E.D. Tenn. Dec. 3, 2023). A proposed modification to an existing consent decree concerning a settling CWA defendant’s alleged violations with respect to the city's POTWs extends certain deadlines to achieve compliance with the consent decree while adding significant remedial projects that must be completed within five years.
EPA proposed revisions to the National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for lead and copper under the SDWA, including requiring water systems to replace lead service lines, remove the lead trigger level, reduce the lead action level to 0.010 mg/L, and strengthen tap sampling procedures.
EPA Region 6 announced an initial revised designation determination that stormwater discharges from the Los Alamos Urban Area (as defined by the latest decennial Census) and Los Alamos National Laboratory property in Los Alamos County and Santa Fe County, New Mexico, are contributing to violations of New Mexico water quality standards and require NPDES permit coverage under the CWA.