Water

Regulatory and legislative disputes over the clean water and safe drinking water acts have major implications for dischargers, utilities and others, and our Water section features the latest news from EPA, the courts and Congress.

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Regulatory and legislative disputes over the clean water and safe drinking water acts have major implications for dischargers, utilities and others, and our Water section features the latest news from EPA, the courts and Congress.

EPA finalizes Biden-era Delaware River plan as proposed

EPA is finalizing a Biden-era plan to set water quality standards (WQS) to protect aquatic life in the Delaware River, maintaining the proposed version’s standards despite significant opposition from local and national wastewater groups that urged the agency to withdraw both the standards and the underlying consent decree compelling them. EPA on Sept. 22 announced its final rule establishing federal WQS for 38 miles of the Delaware River between Philadelphia, PA, and Wilmington, DE. “Clean and safe water is a...

Final Rule

EPA Fact Sheet

Technical Support Document


Ruling Deepens Circuit Split On CWA Notice Requirement For Jurisdiction

The 2nd Circuit has ruled that courts lack jurisdiction to review claims alleging citizens may have provided inadequate notice when filing Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suits, easing plaintiffs’ ability to bring such actions and deepening a circuit split that could open the door to Supreme Court review. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit issued a Sept. 16 decision in Mid-New York Environmental and Sustainability Promotion Committee, Inc., v. Dragon Springs Buddhist, Inc. , holding that CWA...

Senate Backs Key Trump Environment Picks Under New Confirmation Rules

Republican senators have voted along party lines to confirm a block of Trump administration picks for sub-cabinet level positions at EPA and other agencies as part of a large block of nominees that were approved under new GOP-backed rules allowing such votes. Senators on Sept. 18 voted 51-47 along party lines to confirm 48 of President Donald Trump’s nominees, including Jessica Kramer to serve as assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Water and Katherine Scarlett to lead the White House...

Environmental Groups Charge EPA Legacy CCR Delays Violate RCRA, APA

Environmentalists are charging that EPA’s proposal to extend compliance deadlines in the Biden-era rule governing legacy coal combustion residuals (CCR) surface impoundments violates the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act’s (RCRA) protectiveness standard and is arbitrary and capricious, teeing up a likely legal challenge. A coalition of eight environmental groups filed Sept. 15 comments on EPA’s proposed rule that would delay compliance deadlines in the agency’s rule governing legacy CCR surface impoundments and CCR management units (CCRMU), defined as any area...

Environmentalists Urge EPA Against Legacy CCR Rule Compliance Delays

Environmental groups are urging EPA against finalizing its proposal to delay compliance deadlines under a Biden-era rule governing legacy coal combustion residual (CCR) surface impoundments, emphasizing that the extensions lack justification and pose a significant public health risk. Their arguments came during a Sept. 12 EPA public hearing on its proposed rule that extends deadlines in the Biden legacy CCR rule, as the agency prepares broader, substantive revisions to the legacy site rules. Environmentalists were quick to criticize the agency’s...

EPA’s WOTUS Plan Appears Aimed At Quelling Industry, State Concerns

The Trump EPA’s upcoming plan to revise the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) appears aimed at quelling concerns raised by industry groups and states over the Biden-era rule, broadening the scope of certain existing exclusions and incorporating flexibilities to account for states with differing hydrology. The agency’s draft plan, currently under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), establishes explicit definitions on such hot-button terms such as “continuous surface connection” between waterbodies and whether they...

Bipartisan House Group Floats Permitting Bill ‘Framework,’ Advancing Talks

A bipartisan House group is floating an environmental permitting bill “framework” that draws provisions from pending plans addressing transmission, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA), a plan that could advance talks on the issue even as many are skeptical that lawmakers can reach a final deal. The framework , released Sept. 18 by the House Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of 49 House lawmakers -- 23 Republicans and 26 Democrats -- includes several key...

Groups Decry Failure Of Bill To Ease CEQA Rollbacks, But Laud New Effort

Environmental and equity groups are strongly criticizing California lawmakers for failing to pass a bill this year to “clean up” or ease rollbacks of the state’s umbrella environmental protection statute that legislators approved as part of the budget, but they are lauding new legislation to address their concerns that will be considered early next year. “We are immensely grateful to [Assemblyman Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael] and the coalition of legislators who listened to the outpouring of concern from frontline communities...

Environmentalists Threaten New CWA Plastic Suit After Pennsylvania Deal

Environmentalists are threatening to sue two companies over discharges of large amounts of plastic pellets in South Carolina under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), just days after other groups finalized a precedent-setting CWA settlement against a company over plastic discharges into a Pennsylvania river. In a Sept. 10 notice of intent to sue , the group Congaree Riverkeeper warned Alpek Polyester USA and Eastman Chemical Company, who jointly operate a plastic plant near...

Industry Amps Up Push For Permit Reform As Congress Appears Deadlocked

Industry groups are amping up pressure on Congress to enact bipartisan permitting reforms under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act (CWA), arguing growing energy demands to meet national economic and security goals require urgent action, even as lawmakers appear to face a widening divide over the issue. The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) sent a Sept. 16 open letter to congressional leaders of both parties calling for streamlined NEPA permitting requirements, as well as revising landmark...

Environmentalists Sue Over EPA’s Withdrawal Of Slaughterhouse ELG Plan

A coalition of 10 environmental groups is suing EPA over its withdrawal of a Biden-era proposal establishing tough effluent limits to curb nutrient and other releases from meat and poultry product (MPP) facilities, flagging concerns that the Trump administration’s withdrawal violates the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) requirements. The groups filed a Sept. 15 petition for review to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in the suit Cape Fear River Watch, et al., v. EPA , challenging the...

Defendant Pushes Constitutional Challenge To CWA Citizen Suit Provisions

A defendant in a Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suit case is urging a federal district court in Pennsylvania to dismiss the suit that alleges violations of the contracting company’s pollutant discharge permit, arguing in part that the law’s citizen suit provisions are an unconstitutional delegation of executive power to private citizens. W.G. Tomko Inc., the defendant in the case, filed an Aug. 26 brief in support of its motion to dismiss Center for Coalfield Justice (CCJ) v. W.G. Tomko...

Brief In Support Of Motion To Dismiss

CCJ’s Aug. 11 Complaint


Utilities Say Biden-Era LCRI Is Infeasible, Exceeds Authority Under Loper

Water utilities are urging a federal appeals court to overturn EPA’s rule requiring near-total replacement of lead service lines (LSLs) by 2037, arguing that the rule’s timelines are costly and infeasible and that its mandates to replace LSLs on private property exceed EPA’s statutory authority. The American Water Works Association (AWWA), which represents thousands of water utilities, filed its Sept. 12 brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the rule, weeks after...

EPA floats plan to delay, revise CWA ‘worst case’ spill rule

EPA has submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) its proposed rule to delay compliance dates for the Biden-era Clean Water Act (CWA) rule requiring facilities to plan for “worst case” spills of hazardous substances, a measure that is also likely to include changes to the rule to reflect administration policy. EPA sent the proposal to OMB on Sept. 12, following the agency’s June announcement that it plans to delay by up to five years implementation...

EPA Extends Certain TCE Compliance Deadlines Days Ahead Of Bans

EPA is extending certain compliance deadlines in the Biden-era TSCA rule phasing out many uses of trichloroethylene (TCE) that it says critical industry sectors will be unable to meet, just days before the first of those deadlines for wastewater discharges and nuclear fuel manufacturing were set to take effect. EPA released Sept. 12 a pre-publication copy of a Federal Register notice describing the interim final rule, which extends the compliance deadline for the 2024 TCE risk management rule’s ban...

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