Two separate attempts by two coalitions of environmental groups to prompt EPA to promulgate federal numeric nutrient criteria in two different parts of the country have followed two wildly different courses. A recent decision by the Eastern District of Louisiana invites a brief … Continue reading
Category Archives: Water
Removing all doubt: District Court interprets the phrase “discharges composed entirely of storm water”
Under the Clean Water Act and its implementing regulations, certain “discharges composed entirely of storm water,” including stormwater discharges associated with specified small construction activities and oil and gas and mining operations, do not require NPDES permits. In order to qualify … Continue reading
District Court exposes vulnerability in Clean Water Act permit shield
Last week, in Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, et al. v A&G Coal Corp., No 2:12CV00009 (W.D. Va.), the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia held that the Clean Water Act’s permit shield does not protect a NPDES … Continue reading
In efforts to curb pollution from agricultural operations, is RCRA the new Clean Water Act?
Agriculture is a major source of pollution for a number of our nation’s impaired waters, including the Chesapeake Bay. For that reason, government agencies and environmental organizations have targeted agricultural operations as part of their clean water enforcement initiatives. However, … Continue reading
Moving Mountains, Part 2: Fourth Circuit greenlights mountaintop removal mining project
Earlier this month, I reported on a blow that the D.C. Circuit dealt mountaintop removal mining in Mingo Logan Coal Co. v. EPA, No. 12-5150 (D.C. Cir.). Last week, the Fourth Circuit helped the industry get back up on its … Continue reading
No tardy slips: First Circuit declines to compel EPA to act on long-pending NPDES permit renewal applications
In a two-page judgment entered earlier this month whose brevity belies its potential significance, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit denied a petition for a writ of mandamus submitted by environmental groups seeking to compel EPA to take … Continue reading
Slick attempts to circumvent statute of limitations fail to gain traction with D.C. district court in oil dispersants case
Last week, in Alaska Cmty. Action on Toxics, et al. v. EPA, Civ. A. No. 12-1299 (D.D.C., May 7, 2013), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed claims by environmental groups challenging EPA’s failure to identify the … Continue reading
Septic Saga: PADEP proposes policy regarding onlot sewage systems in special protection watersheds
In response to an adjudication issued by the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) in late 2011, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) has issued a proposed policy that, if finalized, would guide its review of sewage facilities planning modules proposing the use … Continue reading
Moving mountains: D.C. Circuit deals a blow to mountaintop removal mining
A little over a year ago, after the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that EPA had exceeded its statutory authority when it invoked section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act to withdraw the specifications of certain … Continue reading
Ninth Circuit touches novel CWA and RCRA claims with a forty-foot pole
Last month, an environmental organization testing the bounds of the reach of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) ran into a brick wall wooden pole when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the … Continue reading