In Puget Soundkeeper Alliance v. EPA, the US District Court for the Western District of Washington held that emails and letters from US EPA staff to the Washington Department of Ecology (Department) describing US EPA staff’s belief that the Department’s fish consumption statistics were not accurate did not rise to the level of a statutory determination that the … Continue Reading
On July 11, in National Mining Association v. McCarthy – a case very important to the surface coal mining industry in the Appalachians – the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected industry arguments that US EPA had improperly adopted policies that made it harder for such mines to obtain two kinds of Clean Water Act (CWA) permits: permits under Section … Continue Reading
Ohio Governor Kasich’s recently-introduced Mid-Biennium Budget Review Environment bill (HB 490) would revise R.C. § 6111.99 to significantly increase criminal penalties for violations of Ohio’s water pollution laws. Under current Ohio law, certain criminal violations of Ohio’s water pollution laws, such as water pollution acts, falsification of data, or criminal violations of orders, rules or permits … Continue Reading
In response to the 8th Circuit’s decision in Iowa League of Cities v. EPA, US EPA held an “Experts Forum on Public Health Impacts of Wet Weather Blending” on June 19 -20, 2014. The purpose was to enlist the expertise of public health officials to “ensure that EPA has appropriate health-based information associated with different engineering options available to … Continue Reading
On May 19, US EPA finalized a new rule governing cooling water intake structures at existing facilities. US EPA anticipates that the rule will impact approximately 1,065 existing facilities (521 manufacturing facilities and 544 power plants) nationwide that require a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The … Continue Reading
As part of an effort to streamline implementation of the Clean Water Act (CWA), US EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) released a proposed rule that will establish defined categories of waters that qualify as “waters of the United States” under the CWA and will be subject to its jurisdiction. The proposed rule is a … Continue Reading
On March 7, 2014, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a decision in Kentuckians for the Commonwealth v. USACE limiting the scope of impacts to be considered under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) issues Clean Water Act Section 404 permits for surface mining operations. Kentuckians involved the … Continue Reading
The recent decision in R v Southern Water Services Limited (2014) has seen the Court of Appeal take a very firm stance against a utilities provider, upholding a fine of £200,000 following a conviction under regulation 38 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (the ‘2010 Regulations’) for discharging untreated sewage into the … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, 21 states and a group of 8 counties filed amicus briefs with the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit supporting the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and other agricultural groups challenging USEPA’s December 2010 total maximum daily load (TMDL) for the Chesapeake Bay. At issue is the September 13, 2013 opinion of … Continue Reading
As EPA continues to develop its policy on global climate change, significant questions remain as to the extent of the regulatory burdens that will be imposed on public utilities and private industry under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to address the predicted effects of global climate change on future weather patterns. For years now, environmental … Continue Reading
Here are 10 of our most popular posts of 2013: USEPA Approves Use of Phase I ESA Standard ASTM E 1527-13 for AAI – read online UK Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 Reverses Previous Burden of Proof for Strict Liability Health and Safety Offences – read online 8th Circuit Denies USEPA’s Petition for Rehearing … Continue Reading
USEPA has decided not to appeal the 8th Circuit’s March 25, 2013 decision in Iowa League of Cities v. EPA, which vacated USEPA’s across-the-board prohibitions on the use of mixing zones for primary contact recreation waters and “blending” for peak wet weather flows. The 8th Circuit previously denied USEPA’s request for rehearing. The deadline for filing an appeal … Continue Reading
A report published this week has identified that a new ‘muscular legislative package’ is being prepared by the European Commission, bringing shale gas companies operating within the EU under a regime which will be “robust enough” to cater for the inherent environmental risks of the industry. The new regime, which is likely to take the … Continue Reading
On September 4, 2013, EPA published a proposed rule to modify its Water Quality Standards program, The proposed rule addresses six key topics that have been the subject of litigation and past EPA guidance: (1) the Administrator’s authority to impose federal water quality standards; (2) how designated uses are determined; (3) the triennial review of state water … Continue Reading
Long before the Rat Pack purchased homes in swinging Palm Springs, before there were wind farms as far as the eye can see, and before the Coachella Music Festival became the hipster music aficionado capitol of the world, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians farmed Coachella Valley lands. In fact, the Agua Caliente Band … Continue Reading
The much discussed Water Bill 2013-2014 was introduced in the UK House of Commons on 27 June 2013 and is now awaiting a date for a second reading in Parliament. The majority of the Bill extends to England and Wales only. The flood insurance provisions in Part 4 of the Bill are however UK wide. There … Continue Reading
On July 19, 2013, the U.S. Department of Energy released to the Associated Press its preliminary results from a study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which found no evidence that chemicals from certain natural gas drilling activities in Pennsylvania have contaminated the drinking water. The study focuses on aquifers at a drilling site in the Marcellus Shale … Continue Reading
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an Order on July 10th summarily denying USEPA’s Petition for Rehearing (see previous frESH blog post – USEPA Seeks Rehearing of the 8th Circuit’s Blending Decision) of its decision in Iowa League of Cities v. EPA. The denial leaves intact the 8th Circuit’s momentous opinion which vacated USEPA’s blending and mixing zone prohibitions (see … Continue Reading
Last month, the Bureau of Land Management proposed revised federal regulations for fracking on federally owned lands (more information is available from frESH here). Initially, interested parties had thirty days to provide comments to the Bureau concerning the proposed regulations. However, on June 10, citing “the complexity of the rule and…the controversial nature of well stimulation … Continue Reading
The Department of the Interior (DOI) has circulated proposed rules that would regulate hydraulic fracking on federally owned lands. The proposed rules would impose requirements on companies extracting natural gas on such lands, including mandating disclosure of chemicals used in fracking operations. The DOI’s proposed rules would only cover fracking on federal lands, meaning that the majority … Continue Reading
USEPA filed on May 9 a Petition for Rehearing En Banc of the 8th Circuit’s decision in Iowa League of Cities v. USEPA , which held that USEPA failed to abide by proper notice and comment procedures and further lacked authority under the Clean Water Act to prohibit the use of blending by wastewater utilities. … Continue Reading
In a pivotal opinion, the 8th Circuit vacated EPA’s across-the-board prohibitions on the use of mixing zones for primary contact recreation waters and “blending” for peak wet weather flows. Iowa League of Cities v. EPA, Case No. 11-3412 (March 25, 2013). In this case, the Iowa League of Cities challenged two letters penned by EPA … Continue Reading
In 2007, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and ten other environmental non-governmental organizations (together, the “Environmental NGOs”) petitioned USEPA to establish nationally applicable technology-based secondary treatment standards for publically owned treatment works (POTWs) to control nitrogen and phosphorous. After sitting on it for over 5 years, USEPA recently denied the Environmental NGOs’ petition on December … Continue Reading
A recent decision from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia found that the Clean Water Act (CWA) does not authorize USEPA to regulate stormwater volume, or “flow,” as a surrogate measure for individual pollutants such as sediment contained in municipal stormwater runoff. The decision may cause difficulties for USEPA’s planned revisions to … Continue Reading
