EPA issued a final determination under CWA §404 prohibiting the specification of and restricting the use for specification of certain waters in the South Fork Koktuli River, North Fork Koktuli River, and Upper Talarik Creek watersheds as disposal sites for certain discharges of dredged or fill material associated with developing the Pebble deposit, a copper-, gold-, and molybdenum-bearing ore body located in Southwest Alaska.

United States v. Lynden, Inc., No. 2:23-cv-00101 (W.D. Wash. Jan. 24, 2023). Settling CERCLA, CWA, and OPA defendants that released hazardous substances and discharged oil from facilities along and near the Lower Duwamish River must pay $556,250 for natural resource damages; purchase restoration credits in a restoration project constructed along the Lower Duwamish River by a project developer to serve as a restoration credit bank; and pay their equitable share of assessment costs.

EPA and the Department of the Army finalized a rule defining the scope of waters protected under the CWA.

EPA proposed revisions to the federal CWA water quality standards regulation to clarify and prescribe how water quality standards must protect aquatic and aquatic-dependent resources reserved to tribes through treaties, statutes, executive orders, or other sources of federal law, where applicable.

EPA clarified its NPDES Stormwater Phase II regulations due to recent changes made by the Census Bureau; changes are limited to clarifying that the designation criteria for small municipal separate storm sewer systems would remain the same.

EPA proposed to clarify its NPDES Stormwater Phase II regulations due to recent changes made by the Census Bureau; changes would be limited to clarifying that the designation criteria for small municipal separate storm sewer systems would remain the same.

United States v. Prairie State Solar, LLC, No. 3:22-cv-02660 (S.D. Ill. Nov. 14, 2022). A settling CWA defendant that allegedly violated its state stormwater permit during construction of a large-scale solar farm in Perry County, Illinois, must perform injunctive relief measures to ensure compliance until construction is complete and the stormwater permit is terminated, and pay a civil penalty of $225,000, with $157,500 to the United States and $67,500 to the state of Illinois.

United States v. Big River Solar, LLC, No. 3:22-cv-02659 (S.D. Ill. Nov. 14, 2022). A settling CWA defendant that allegedly violated its state stormwater permit during construction of a large-scale solar farm in White County, Illinois, must perform injunctive relief measures to ensure compliance until construction is complete and the stormwater permit is terminated, and pay a civil penalty of $175,000, with $122,500 to the United States and $52,500 to the state of Illinois.

EPA finalized protective and science-based federal human health criteria to protect Washington's waters, including waters where tribes hold treaty-reserved rights to fish.

United States v. Elyria, City of, No. 22-cv-02026 (N.D. Ohio Nov. 9, 2022). A settling CWA defendant that allegedly violated a prior consent judgment related to discharges of pollutants from the city's sewer system must pay a $100,000 civil penalty to the United States and $100,000 into Ohio's Surface Water Improvement Fund, and implement an Integrated Wet Weather Control Plan to be completed by December 31, 2044.