Archive for April 2020
SCOTUS Holds Clean Water Act Permits Required for Some Releases to Groundwater
In a highly anticipated decision yesterday, the Supreme Court announced on a 6-3 basis that Clean Water Act permits are required under certain circumstances for point source pollutants that reach jurisdictional waters through groundwater. On the critical question of which circumstances, the Court announced a fact-dependent, qualitative test: a CWA permit is required for point…
Read MoreSCOTUS Holds Superfund Does Not Preempt State Law Claims, but Precludes State Court Challenges to EPAâs Remediation Decisions
The Supreme Court held on April 20, 2020, in a broad consensus decision, that landowners affected by a Superfund site can sue under state law for damages to their properties, but those damages may not include the cost to restore the plaintiffsâ properties based on their preferred cleanup remedy if that remedy is not approved…
Read MoreNew WOTUS Rule to Take Effect June 22, 2020
The final Navigable Waters Protection Rule (âNWPRâ) to define âwaters of the United Statesâ (WOTUS) issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps will be published in the Federal Register on April 21, 2020. The Rule will take effect on June 22, 2020. Once effective, it replaces the rule the agencies…
Read MoreCOVID-19 Impacts on State-Level Environmental Enforcement and Compliance
Due to the public health crisis presented by COVID-19, new guidance, advisories, orders, and exemptions are issued by state and local governments on a daily basis. The wide variety of responses has left many businesses, including responsible parties and their environmental consultants, wondering how these actions impact their obligation to conduct environmental remediation and related…
Read MoreEPA Issues COVID-19 Enforcement Discretion Policy
On March 26, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued guidance addressing a range of issues related to environmental enforcement and compliance arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance addresses situations where EPA may apply enforcement discretion to pandemic-related non-compliance. EPA does not expect to seek penalties for violations of routine compliance monitoring, integrity testing,…
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