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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, […]
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 […]
On May 27, 2021, the EPA announced in a press release that it will revise the 2020 Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 Certification Rule after determining the rule hinders state and tribal authorities from protecting their water resources.
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, the EPA issued draft guidance dated December 4, 2020, to clarify how the Agency intends to apply the decision on a case-by-case basis.
In November, the EPA asked the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Colorado to restore its definition of waters that are protected by the Clean Water Act (CWA) after it was struck down by a federal judge at the request of the state of Colorado.
In response to complaints by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Senator Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), on August 25, 2020, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced it would open a review of the penalties the EPA has assessed against San Francisco due to sewer overflows.
Earlier this month, the EPA finalized its “Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification Rule,” which aims to increase the transparency and efficiency of the Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 water quality certification process to promote the timely review of infrastructure projects.
By a tally of 6 to 3, the U.S. Supreme Court found that under certain circumstances, a discharge of pollution from a point source that travels in groundwater before entering a navigable water subjects the discharger to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Navigable Waters Rule (NWR), issued by the Corps and the EPA, will effectively remove 51% of the Corps’s mapped wetlands from federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act (CWA). Much of that eliminated inventory was subject to federal protection under the Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Water […]
Attempts by the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin to invalidate a Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 (dredge and fill) permit the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) granted Aquila Resources Inc. for a mining project on a portion of the Menominee River were unsuccessful in both a federal district court and the U.S. Court […]