Last Friday, June 30th, 2024, in Loper Bright Enterprises et al. v. Raimondo et al., case number 22-451, and Relentless Inc. et al. v. Department of Commerce et al., case number 22-1219, the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated a powerful and longstanding precedent that has controlled administrative law for 40 years. The high court’s 6-3 decision overruled Chevron USA v. Natural Resources Defense Council, pursuant to which federal judges have deferred […]

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SCOTUS Grants City and County of San Francisco’s Petition for Writ of Mandate On May 28, 2024 the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up the issue of whether the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has authority to establish narrative effluent limitations under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”). After the Ninth Circuit answered this question affirmatively in favor of the EPA, the City and County of San Francisco (“San […]

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On April 19, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) finalized a new rule designating two widely used per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”) chemicals—perfluorooctanoic acid (“PFOA”) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (“PFOS”), including their salts and structural isomers—as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA” or “Superfund”).

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On April 10, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) issued its first-ever regulatory drinking water limits on per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (“PFAS”), or “forever chemicals,” under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (“SDWA”). By requiring purveyors of public drinking water to reduce PFAS concentrations, EPA hopes to decrease PFAS exposure for approximately 100 million people. Background on PFAS PFAS have been widely used since the 1940s in industry and consumer […]

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