EPA announced the availability of draft guidance on applying the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund in the CWA §402 NPDES permit program for point source discharges that travel through groundwater before reaching a water of the United States.
A district court denied the city of New Orleans' motion to remand to state court its lawsuit against oil companies for allegedly damaging coastal wetlands with their operations. The city initially sued the companies in state court, arguing they violated the Louisiana State and Local Coastal Resource...
EPA invited public comment to inform the domestic availability of multiple products used in the construction, alteration, and/or maintenance of water infrastructure.
United States v. ACF Industries LLC, No. 3:23-cv-1603 (D. Or. Nov. 1, 2023). Under two proposed consent decrees, settling CERCLA, CWA, and OPA defendants whose facilities along the Willamette River released hazardous substances must pay cash and/or purchase restoration credits in one or more restoration projects approved by the Natural Resource Trustees to create habitat for injured natural resources, and make payments for the public’s lost recreational use of the river, for monitoring of culturally significant plants and animals, and for reimbursement of the Natural Resource Trustees’ costs.
United States v. Board of County Commissioners of Hamilton County, No. C-1-02-107 (S.D. Ohio Oct. 25, 2023). A proposed material modification to a consent decree under the CAA moves two projects back in priority order; changes the descriptions and design criteria for a few projects; adds a process to the Wet Weather Improvement Plan (WWIP) to address previously unidentified CSO or SSO outfalls; adds an additional short phase of work to the WWIP’s scheduling process; and makes a few clarifying changes to other aspects of the WWIP.
A district court granted DOI's motion to dismiss a lawsuit concerning tribal water rights on the Crow Reservation in Montana. Tribal members who hold property on the reservation challenged the 2010 Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act (Settlement Act), which provided benefits to the tribe in excha...
United States v. Revere, Massachusetts, City of, No. 1:10-cv-11460 (D. Mass. Oct. 25, 2023). Under a proposed first modification to a consent decree, a settling CWA defendant must update portions of its Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan and Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan by December 31, 2026.
EPA announced the preliminary designation of stormwater discharges from certain commercial, industrial, and institutional sites in two watersheds in Los Angeles County, California, for regulation under the CWA NPDES permitting program.
The Fifth Circuit reversed a district court ruling upholding the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to issue a CWA §404 permit to fill wetlands for a commercial and residential development project in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. Parish residents and environmental groups argued the Corps' decision ...
EPA entered into a proposed consent decree under the CWA in Arizona Mining Reform Coalition v. Guzman (D. Ariz.) that would obligate EPA to establish copper and lead TMDLs for Queen Creek, Arizona, by July 31, 2028, unless the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality first establishes and submits them to EPA by January 31, 2027.