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It seems like yesterday, but it was actually last summer when the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers published the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, effective June 22, 2020 (the Rule ).
The Rule s publication completed the two-step process to repeal and replace the 2015 Clean Water Rule. The Rule replaced the Clean Water Rule s definition of waters of the United States with one that provides an arguably smaller scope of protections for these waters. As expected, several states (including North Carolina) raised legal challenges to the Rule during the second half of 2020. Colorado, however, was the only state that obtained a stay of the Rule.
The United States Supreme Court’s decision in Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund leaves anyone with responsibility for a discharge to groundwater wondering whether that discharge is prohibited by the federal Clean Water Act. Guidance issued by EPA at the very end of the Trump administration offers no real assistance. Join us for a lunchtime presentation about how we got here, where
Friday, February 5, 2021
It seems like yesterday, but it was actually last summer when the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers published the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, effective June 22, 2020 (the Rule ).
The Rule s publication completed the two-step process to repeal and replace the 2015 Clean Water Rule. The Rule replaced the Clean Water Rule s definition of waters of the United States with one that provides an arguably smaller scope of protections for these waters. As expected, several states (including North Carolina) raised legal challenges to the Rule during the second half of 2020. Colorado, however, was the only state that obtained a stay of the Rule.
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
Late last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued a draft guidance intended to assist regulated entities and permitting authorities in applying the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in
County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, concerning Clean Water Act (“CWA”) jurisdiction over discharges to groundwater. In that case, the Supreme Court held that the CWA requires a permit not only for direct discharges into navigable waters, but also for the “functional equivalent” of direct discharges. The Court then set forth seven non-exclusive factors to determine whether a groundwater discharge is “functionally equivalent” to a direct discharge and thus requires a permit.
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration on January 20, 2021 as the forty-sixth President of the United States could usher in a sweeping period of environmental regulatory changes vastly eclipsing those of his immediate predecessor – and perhaps even those of President Barack Obama. Further, with key Senate victories in January by Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in Georgia, a Democrat-controlled Congress is better situated to help the President-elect achieve the environmental goals he’s promised would be a focus of his administration.
Regulated industries can expect the new administration to consider action on climate change, environmental justice, chemicals regulation, wetlands/waters of the United States, and endangered & threatened species. Although some of these actions may be complex, look for key Trump administration rules to be rolled back and replaced and new rules and legislation to be proposed. Below we provide a brief overview of key e