The Tenth Circuit reversed a district court finding of a CWA violation in a citizen suit brought against the operator of a gold mine in Colorado. Plaintiffs argued the operator violated the CWA because seepage from the mine's settling ponds flowed into the groundwater and then migrated to the Middle...
United States v. New Hampshire, No. 1:18-cv-00996-PB. Under a proposed modified consent decree, a settling CWA defendant that allegedly violated an NPDES permit by exceeding its discharge limits for total phosphorus and pH, which contributed to contamination, eutrophication, and the growth of toxic cyanobacteria in the Merrymeeting River must achieve compliance with the CWA and its permit by the end of 2025.
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 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.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for an environmental group in a suit against a California resident who engaged in instream suction dredge mining in Idaho’s South Fork Clearwater River without an NPDES permit. The group argued the resident violated the CWA each time he operated a suctio...
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.
On August 29, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a direct final rule that revised the “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) definition rule. This rule amended the final WOTUS rule, previously published in January 2023, to be consistent with the Supreme Court’s May decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. On September 14, the Environmental Law Institute hosted a panel of experts to analyze the new rule and discuss its regulatory and policy consequences.