The U.S. Supreme Court just issued its long-awaited Sackett decision in which it significantly narrowed the scope of federal jurisdiction over “waters of the U.S.” under the Clean Water Act. Written by Justice Alito (with four other justices joining him), the decision contained three separate concurring opinions, with its operative holding as follows:
EPA has proposed to establish “baseline” water quality standards that would apply to all Indian reservation waters where the tribe has not received “treatment as a state” (TAS) authority, the state does not have authority, and the federal government has not already promulgated water quality standards. Under the proposal, tribes will have a limited opportunity
With little fanfare, EPA has finally proposed to approve Louisiana’s Class VI underground injection control (UIC) well program. The proposal to approve Louisiana’s program comes nearly two years after the state submitted its package for consideration.
The pre-publication version of EPA’s proposal walks through the agency’s process and substantive consideration of Louisiana’s statutes, regulations
After the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota’s April 12 ruling, the majority of the United States can no longer implement or enforce the Biden administration’s definition of waters of the United States (WOTUS). This comes as a major blow to the administration that has repeatedly touted the so-called “durability
On March 13, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took the long-anticipated step of proposing maximum contaminant level goals (MCLGs), as well as individual maximum contaminant levels (MCLs), for six PFAS compounds under the Safe Drinking Water Act. PFAS are a large family of synthetic chemicals that have been in use since the 1940s. Many PFAS
President Biden recently signed the Flood Level, Observation, Operations, and Decision Support Act (FLOODS Act), codifying an important leadership and management tool that helped modernize federal water policy in the United States. In 2018 a “federal water sub-cabinet” was informally established to coordinate water policy across the major federal agencies responsible for developing, managing,
Better late than never, but on January 4, EPA published its Fall 2022 Unified Regulatory Agenda. The Reg Agenda includes a few new rulemaking initiatives and a number of schedule changes that were largely expected since EPA has been running a few months behind on most of their major rulemakings (e.g., WOTUS, 401
John Goodin takes a break from his recent retirement to share invaluable insights with Dave and Anna from his 32-year career in EPA’s Office of Water. John talks about the long-running “waters of the United States” rulemaking, provides an insider’s perspective on federal decision-making, and connects his passion for travel with EPA’s mission to restore and protect our nation’s waters.
Yesterday, EPA announced a proposed rule that would revise the agency’s regulations to include a requirement that water quality standards protect reserved tribal reserved rights. This proposal is a major milestone for the agency that has tried to incorporate reserved tribal reserved rights into its water quality standards program since at least 2015.
According
HDR Utility Services Director Trent Stober joins Dave and Anna to close out their PFAS miniseries, focusing on the real-world application of regulatory developments in the water sector. Trent provides perspective on how engineering consultants advise their water and wastewater utility customers on risk management, integrated planning, and other response strategies to the developing PFAS regulatory framework.
Continue reading PFAS in Focus: Forever-Engineering With Trent Stober, HDR