The Tide

Short alerts designed to keep legal and water sector professionals up-to-date on important developments

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:

  1. The CWA

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,

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection posted interim soil remediation standards for several per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (collectively PFAS) to include perfluoro nonanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluoro octane sulfonate (PFOS), and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid and its ammonium salt (GenX). Posted in the October 17 NJ Register, the interim standards pertain

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Administrator Regan signed a proposed rule to designate two of the most widely studied per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The proposed designation for PFOA and PFOS, if and when finalized, would provide EPA

EPA released a pre-publication version of its proposal to re-write the Clean Water Act 401 Certification Rule. The proposed re-write comes after the Northern District of California vacated EPA’s 2020 Certification Rule, which the U.S. Supreme Court later reinstated. The proposal also includes conforming amendments to EPA’s certification regulations for the Section 402 NPDES

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week added five PFAS chemicals for a total of six PFAS chemicals to a list of risk-based values. EPA uses these values to determine if response or remediation activities are needed. The five PFAS additions include: hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid and its ammonium salt (HFPO-DA — sometimes referred

Today, in a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court re-instated the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) 2020 Clean Water Act (CWA) section 401 rule (Certification Rule). The Court stayed a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which had vacated and remanded the Certification Rule back to EPA without first