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.

6th Circuit Appeal Seeks To Expand High Court's CWA 'Jurisdiction' Ruling

A federal appeals court is weighing a novel case that if successful could expand a Supreme Court precedent which opened the door to filing suits over federal regulators' Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdictional determinations (JDs), with the suit aiming to expand the precedent beyond JDs to EPA "objections" to some state-crafted CWA permits. Briefing starts next month in Marquette County Road Commission v. EPA, et al. , which appears to be the first case aiming to expand to other EPA...

Judge Extends Date For EPA To Act On West Virginia Conductivity TMDL

A federal district judge has extended the compliance date for EPA to act on West Virginia's failure to craft cleanup plans for waters with high conductivity until after an appeals court rules on the issue -- delaying implementation of what would be a precedential test for the Trump administration in how it will impose federal plans. In an April 5 order , Chief Judge Robert C. Chambers of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia says...

EPA's Motion To Stay

Judge's April 5 Order





EPA May End CWA Enforcement Using Kennedy Test Ahead Of New Rule

EPA appears to be planning to slow or end existing Clean Water Act (CWA) enforcement cases that use Justice Anthony Kennedy's test for determining the law's reach, defying long-running agency guidance and legal precedent even before EPA writes a new CWA jurisdiction rule using a narrower test authored by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. According to an internal EPA document reviewed by Inside EPA , staff in the agency's Office of Enforcement & Compliance Assurance have been directed to quickly...

Democrats seek 'guarantee' new CWA rule will protect drinking water

A group of 11 Senate Democrats is calling on EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to “guarantee” that the agency's planned rewrite of the Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule will not threaten drinking water quality, questioning whether the agency has adequately assessed the health impacts of its plan to scale back the water law's protections. In an April 3 letter to Pruitt, the senators ask him to “guarantee that no American’s health will be harmed” by EPA's planned revisions to the...

Wastewater authorities outline legal attacks on EPA stormwater policy

A group of municipal wastewater authorities is signaling it will use a pending suit over EPA's general permit for small stormwater systems in New Hampshire to challenge the agency's overall regulatory scheme for stormwater as well as novel elements of the permit, mirroring the group's claims in a suit over a similar EPA permit for Massachusetts. The Center for Regulatory Reasonableness (CRR) filed a non-binding statement of issues March 31 outlining the claims it will raise in CRR v. EPA...

Revival Of Long-Running CWA Case Tests 'Converted Cropland' Exemption

The Obama and Trump administrations' efforts to revive a long-running Clean Water Act (CWA) enforcement case against a farm could, depending on its resolution, help to set new precedent on when wetlands are "prior converted cropland" exempt from the law, with the farm defendant in the case arguing it qualifies for that exemption. Defendants in the long-running suit United States v. Brace, et al. , are facing potential penalties for violating a CWA consent decree in place since 1996. The...

High Court Rejects DOJ Bid To Stay Litigation Over CWA Jurisdiction Rule

The Supreme Court has rejected the Justice Department's (DOJ) call to stay a suit over the correct venue for legal challenges to the Obama administration's Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule, a win for both critics and supporters of the rule who want the justices to definitively rule on which court should hear suits over the rule's merits. In its April 3 orders , the court without further explanation says it will continue the current schedule for National Association of...

Draft SAB Report

Chartered SAB Comments


District Court Ruling Refusing Reconsideration

County Road Commission's Brief Touting Impact Of Hawkes Ruling


Navajo Nation expands claims in Gold King spill suit

The Navajo Nation is asking a federal district court to add charges against EPA and a second cleanup contractor to its suit over the 2015 Gold King Mine wastewater spill, while also preemptively rebutting the agency's likely claims that it cannot be held legally liable for the accident since it happened in the course of a Superfund cleanup. In a March 28 filing , the tribe asks the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico to accept an...

Stormwater Permit Suits Could Hinge On High Court CWA Rule Venue Case

The fate of environmentalists' new suits seeking broad EPA stormwater discharge permits could hinge on how the Supreme Court addresses a suit over whether federal district or appellate courts should first hear challenges to the agency's Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule, as it could determine how the stormwater suits proceed. A coalition of four environmental groups have already brought appellate suits in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 4th and 9th Circuits challenging EPA's denial of their petitions...

EPA Motion To Stay

Environmentalists' Response Brief

Court Faults California Over Water Orders


Judge declines to 'read tea leaves' on CWA jurisdiction test

A federal judge in California has reversed her earlier pledge to certify a quick appeal on whether Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's “significant nexus” test for Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction is still binding in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, declining to “read the tea leaves” on whether the 9th Circuit precedent has changed. Instead, Judge Kimberly J. Mueller of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in a March 24 order rejects...

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