Archive for July 2020
Fourth Circuit Considers New Clean Water Act Functional Equivalence Test in Kinder Morgan Case
The much-discussed April 2020 Clean Water Act ruling in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund left open the critical question of how courts would apply the qualitative test set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court to determine whether, in the case of groundwater contamination that eventually impacts surface waters, the “functional equivalent” of a…
Read MoreEPA to End COVID-19 Enforcement Discretion Policy
On June 30, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it plans to terminate its controversial COVID-19 Enforcement Discretion Policy (Policy) on August 31, 2020. The temporary Policy allowed EPA to exercise case-by-case enforcement discretion for environmental legal obligations during the COVID-19 public health emergency. The Agency cites public health response and economic recovery…
Read More