Tag: CWA

Clean Water Act Under Fire Again: The Legal Landscape of WOTUS

The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States (WOTUS) and regulating quality standards for surface waters.  Under the CWA, the EPA has implemented pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. The EPA has also developed national water quality criteria […]

Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 Released

The EPA recently released Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 (Plan 15), which lays out how the Agency will work to protect the nation’s waterways by following science and the Clean Water Act (CWA) to develop technology-based pollution limits and studies on wastewater discharges from industrial sources. The plan focuses on evaluating the extent and nature […]

EPA Announces Significant Improvements in CWA Permit Compliance

The EPA recently announced major improvements in Clean Water Act (CWA) permit compliance over the last five years. In 2018, the Agency and 47 states agreed to work collaboratively toward achieving the target goal of reducing significant noncompliance among facilities permitted under the CWA by 50% over five years. The EPA announcement celebrates the achievement […]

A Call for Tighter Water Pollution Regulations at Factory Farms

More than 30 advocacy groups have filed suit against the EPA in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to force the Agency to issue a response to a legal petition urging the strengthening of Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations governing waste from factory farms. The groups, led by Food & Water Watch, filed a legal […]

WOTUS and Wetlands With SCOTUS Again

The first case on the U.S. Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) 2022 fall docket was Sackett v. EPA, which asked the Court to consider scaling back the EPA’s authority to regulate some types of wetlands under the Clean Water Act (CWA). One of the main issues in the case is to determine which test courts should use […]

Colorado Federal Judge Orders Mining Operation to Pay $500,000 CWA Fine

After reviewing the evidence presented in Pamela Stone, et al. v. High Mountain Mining Company LLC et al., Colorado Federal Judge William J. Martínez ordered High Mountain to pay $500,000 in fines for Clean Water Act (CWA) violations. Wyoming-based High Mountain owns and operates the Alma Placer Mine, a gold placer mine located near Alma, […]

A Closer Look at Proposed Changes to the 401 CWA Water Quality Certification Rule

In June 2022, the EPA issued a proposed rule to update regulatory requirements under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Trump administration issued the first changes to these rules in 50 years, known as the 2020 Rule. Many felt the 2020 Rule removed long-standing state and tribal rights to block federal water […]