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
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EPA Proposes Water Quality Standards Revisions Requiring Consideration of Tribal Reserved Rights
By Anna Wildeman & Dave Ross on
Posted in The Deep
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…
EPA Publishes Final Fifth Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List (CCL)
By Chris Bergin on
Posted in The Deep
On October 28, the EPA published the Final Fifth Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the EPA is required to publish a new Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) every five years. The CCL contains a list of contaminants that are currently not subject to any national primary drinking water…
Reflections on Sackett
By Dave Ross & Anna Wildeman on
Posted in Reflections on Water Podcast
Dave Ross and Anna Wildeman provide high-level reactions to the Supreme Court’s oral arguments in the Sackett v. EPA case, the latest legal battle in a long-running dispute over the meaning of the phrase “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. They discuss the Court’s surprising focus on a little-known parenthetical in the section 404 program, EPA’s potential reactions to the arguments, and whether anyone can reasonably predict the outcome of the case in what may be the most closely watched environmental decision of the current term.…
EPA UIC Class VI Program Administration Creates Potential Weak Link in Climate Adaptation Strategy
By Anna Wildeman & Dave Ross on
Posted in The Deep
The Biden administration has enormous climate and carbon management goals, which rightfully include the geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide as a core part of its climate adaptation strategy. The administration, to its credit, has worked with Congress to provide tax credits and billions of dollars of new funding for programs targeting the transportation and sequestration…
Biden WOTUS Final Rule at OMB
By Dave Ross & Anna Wildeman on
Posted in The Tide
On September 12, with exactly three weeks until the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral argument in the Sackett v. EPA case, EPA sent the latest iteration of a final rule to define “Waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS) to the Office of Management and Budget for interagency review. While the Court may not issue an opinion…
401 Certification Proposal Hits the Street
By Anna Wildeman on
Posted in The Tide
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…
Supreme Court Re-Instates the Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification Rule
By Chuck Sensiba, Morgan Gerard & Misha Tseytlin on
Posted in The Tide
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…
Draft 401 Certification Rule Proposal Sent to OMB
By Anna Wildeman & Dave Ross on
Posted in The Tide
On March 25, EPA sent a proposed Clean Water Act Section 401 Water Quality Certification rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for interagency review. Once cleared by OMB, the proposal will be published in the Federal Register for public review and comment. According to the OMB dashboard, EPA considers this proposed…
EPA Budget Includes CCS Injection Program Investment
By Anna Wildeman & Dave Ross on
Posted in The Tide
EPA’s budget, approved by Congress last week, increases investment in the agency’s Safe Drinking Water Act Underground Injection Control (UIC) program. A joint statement accompanying the budget specifies that $5 million is available for EPA to develop expertise and capacity in the UIC Class VI well program, and these dollars should be used to process…