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An Example of True Judicial Restraint: Judge Robert Chambers Affirms the...

After my post on judicial restraint – and the lack thereof – in Texas v. EPA, the opinion issued last week by Judge Robert Chambers, in Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition v. United States Army Corps...

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EPA Formally Withdraws Numeric Turbidity Standards from Its Stormwater Rule...

Daily Environment Report announced yesterday that EPA notified BNA that, late last year, EPA reached a settlement with the Utility Water Act Group and the National Association of Home Builders...

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When Do Air Emissions Constitute a Discharge to Waters of the United States?...

In a fascinating post today, my colleague from the American College of Environmental Lawyers, Patricia Finn Braddock, reported on a case at the intersection of the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act...

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A Victory For Regulation Over Guidance? Are EPA and the Corps Giving Up on...

As readers of this blog know, EPA’s use of guidance is a pet peeve of mine.  The issue has arisen with particular force in connection with EPA’s efforts to define Clean Water Act jurisdiction following...

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MassDEP Regulatory Reform Release 2.0: Wetlands, Water, and Waterways

In addition to its MCP package, MassDEP has also released its formal regulatory reform proposals for its water, wastewater, wetlands, and waterways programs.  As with the MCP proposal, the water...

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Logging Road Runoff Does Not Require an NPDES Permit: The Supreme Court (For...

Yesterday, in Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center, the Supreme Court ruled that runoff from logging roads does not constitute a discharge from a point source that requires an NPDES permit....

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EPA Proposes Revisions to the Construction and Development Effluent...

Today, EPA formally proposed revisions to its effluent guidelines for stormwater discharges from construction and development point sources.  As we have previously noted, in response to concerns about...

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Stop the Presses: Utility Poles in Place Are Not Point Sources; Neither Are...

As we noted last month, the Supreme Court has determined that logging roads are not point sources subject to stormwater regulation under the Clean Water Act.  On Wednesday, in Ecological Rights...

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Coming to a Steam Electric Generating Plant Near You in May 2014 — New...

Last Friday, EPA announced release of its draft proposal to revise the effluent guidelines and standards for the steam electric power generating industry, last revised in 1982.  The proposal was in...

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When is the Meaning of a Statute Sufficiently Plain? The D.C. Circuit...

In a decision on Tuesday that must have sent shivers down the spine of every coal company executive, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals restored EPA’s authority to withdraw the specification of streams...

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The Permit Shield Defense: No Shield Absent Full Disclosure

The Clean Water Act permit shield provision provides that compliance with an NPDES permit constitutes compliance with the CWA.  What happens when the permit does not mention a particular pollutant?  In...

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What Is the Burden In Proving a Violation of a Stormwater Permit? If It Walks...

Those of us who do NPDES work know that enforcement, including citizen enforcement, against industrial point sources can often be all to straightforward.  The plaintiff marches into court with a pile...

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More on the Permit Shield Defense: A Permittee Is — Gasp — Entitled to Rely...

Late last month, we noted that a permittee may not rely on the permit shield defense unless it has clearly informed the permitting agency of the nature of its discharge.  Now we see the flip side.  In...

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Standing Matters, TMDL Version

Last week, in Conservation Law Foundation v. EPA, Judge Mark Wolf ruled that CLF did not have standing to challenge EPA’s approval of total maximum daily loads promulgated for certain waters in and...

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The Answer, My Friend, Is Not Blowin’ In The Wind: Waste From CAFO...

Earlier this year, in her aptly named post “What the Cluck?”, Patricia Finn Braddock, noted that a state court in North Carolina had held that wastes from poultry farms, blown by ventilators from...

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Cape Cod TMDL Litigation; CLF Is Still In There Swinging

In September, I noted that Judge Mark Wolf had dismissed CLF’s law suit challenging EPA’s approval of the TMDLs for the Cape Cod embayments, ruling that CLF did not have standing.  CLF, as is its wont,...

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Waters of the United States: Definitely a Regulation, Not Guidance

Last week, what appears to be a draft (so long that it is in two separate parts) of EPA’s proposed rule defining “waters of the United States” was widely circulated.  Part of what I love about this...

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Citizens Are Not Harmed By the Concept of Pollution Trading: A Challenge to...

On December 13, the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed plaintiffs’ challenge in Food and Water Watch v. EPA to the Chesapeake Bay TMDL’s discussion of pollution trading and offsets....

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Cooperative Federalism Is Even Messier Than We Thought: 21 States Oppose the...

Last fall, the District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania affirmed EPA’s TMDL for the Chesapeake Bay.  As I noted at the time, Judge Rambo pointed to the sometimes “messy and cumbersome”...

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The Federal Tail Should Not Wag the Non-Federal Dog: The Sixth Circuit...

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, in Kentuckians for the Commonwealth v. Army Corps of Engineers, that the scope of review by the Army Corps of Engineers of § 404 permit applications for...

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