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California and 16 States and Cities Sue EPA in Federal Court Over Clean Water Act 2020 Rule

Mon May 4th, On Litigation, by

Seventeen states and cities (California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and Virginia, along with the District of Columbia and New York City) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California last week seeking judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) of a rule promulgated by the U.S. Environmental […]

The Supreme Court Creates “Functional Equivalent” Test in Clean Water Act Case

Mon Apr 27th, On Litigation, by

Last Thursday, the Supreme Court tried to balance the federal regulation of point-source pollution with states’ regulation of nonpoint-source pollution under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. The Supreme Court’s majority opinion left as many questions as answers, however, as it created a new “functional equivalent” standard, but failed to define what constitutes the “functional equivalent” of a “direct discharge.” In short, a […]

DC Circuit Court to EPA: Grant-Holding Scientists Cannot Be Banned From Scientific Advisory Committees

Fri Apr 24th, On Rulemaking and Legislative Practice, by

The D.C. Circuit ruled this week that EPA must discontinue its practice of banning grant recipients from serving on its federal advisory committees. This precedent-setting ruling reverses a lower court’s decision which found the EPA did not violate a conflict-of-interest statute regarding executive branch employees and related regulations. The D.C. Circuit’s ruling comes in a lawsuit seeking to overturn former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt’s October 2017 directive regarding alleged conflicts […]

California State Water Board Will Now Require Monthly Use Reporting From Urban Retail Water Suppliers

Thu Apr 23rd, On Rulemaking and Legislative Practice, by

The State Water Board adopted a regulation this week requiring the state’s largest urban retail water suppliers to report their monthly water use. A similar emergency policy was adopted on a mandatory basis during the last statewide drought; however, since November 2017, reporting has been implemented on a voluntary basis. The regulation affects California’s 400 largest water systems serving approximately 90% of the state’s population. The goal of collecting this […]

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