NAAG Projects
Water Contact
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August 10, 2009
EPA Seeks Public Input on Clean Water Enforcement Action Plan Through Online Forum
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched an online discussion forum to receive public input on the future direction of EPA’s national water enforcement program. The public will be able to provide feedback through the EPA Web site, between now and August 28, giving them a forum to address any concerns about EPA’s efforts to protect the water in their communitiesThe forum is part of a larger agency effort to improve the performance and enhance public transparency of state and federal Clean Water Act enforcement programs. In a memo issued on July 2, Administrator Lisa Jackson called for stronger enforcement performance at federal and state levels and a transformation of EPA’s water quality and compliance information systems. As part of this effort, Jackson directed the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance to develop an action plan. All ideas from the public will be evaluated and considered for recommendations to the EPA Administrator about the future direction for EPA’s water enforcement program. -
August 04, 2009
Eighth Circuit Allows Counterclaim Against Missouri in St. Louis Water Pollution Case
The United States and the State of Missouri filed this enforcement actionagainst the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (District) under the Clean Water Act(Act), 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq. (2009). They sought federal civil penalties and injunctiverelief to limit discharges of untreated wastewater and sewage by the District. TheDistrict raised several affirmative defenses claiming financial inability to comply withthe Act's requirements and filed two counterclaims. The State then moved to strikethe District's affirmative defenses and to dismiss its counterclaims, arguing that theywere barred by sovereign immunity and the Eleventh Amendment. The district court1denied the motion and Missouri appeals, arguing that it did not waive its sovereignimmunity by filing this action since the Act requires its participation. The appellate court affirmed. -
July 09, 2009
Eighth Circuit Rules for the United States in Jurisdictional Wetlands Case
The Eighth Circuit on June 9 issued its decision in United States v. Bailey, the latest in the long series of jurisdictional wetlands cases. The Court held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had authority to enforce its denial of a 404 permit by requiring restoration of the wetlands where defendant had caused a road to be built and lots to be mapped out. The Court held that if either Justice Kennedy’s test or the plurality’s test in the Rapanos decision was met, the waters are jurisdictional—and that the waters in this case meet the Kennedy “substantial nexus” test. -
July 07, 2009
Eighth Circuit Rules for Arkansas Attorney General McDaniel on Eleventh Amendment Grounds in Water Dispute
A private party attempted to prevent the State of Arkansas from claiming certain disputed water as public, in a quiet title action that also incorporated a request to enjoin the Attorney General from claiming the land as public under Arkansas law defining navigability. The lower court dismissed the complaint as unripe. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the dismissal on different grounds, holding that Idaho v. Coeur d'Alene Tribe of Idaho, 521 U.S. 261 (1997) controlled, and that The Eleventh Amendment barred the suit. -
June 23, 2009
United States and State of Missouri v. St. Louis Sewer District
In this spin-off from a wastewater enforcement case, The Missouri Industrial Energy Consumers (MIEC), an association of businesses formed to address its members' concerns about utility services, moved to intervene. The district court denied the motion for lack of standing. MIEC appeals, and the Eighth Circuit affirmed. -
June 22, 2009
U.S.Supreme Court Rules that the Corps of Engineers has Authority to Issue Clean Water Act Permit in Alaska Mining Case
The Supreme Court ruled today to reverse the Ninth Circuit's decision in two complex Clean Water Act case. The Court addressed two questions. The first is whether the Act gives authority to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, or instead to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to issue a permit for the discharge of mining waste, called slurry. The Corps of Engineers has issued a permit to petitioner Coeur Alaska, Inc. (Coeur Alaska), for a discharge of slurry into a lake in Southeast Alaska. The second question is whether, when the Corps issued that permit, the agency acted in accordance with law. The Court concluded that the Corps was the appropriate agency to issue the permit and that the permit was lawful. -
June 10, 2009
Eighth Circuit Bars Missouri's Sovereign Immunity Defense to Municipal Wastewater Case Counterclaim
Section 309(e) of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1319(e) states:Whenever a municipality is a party to a civil action brought by the United States under this section, the State in which such municipality is located shall be joined as a party. Such State shall be liable for payment of any judgment, or any expenses incurred as a result of complying with any judgment, entered against the municipality in such action to the extent that the laws of that state prevent the municipality from raising revenues needed to comply with such judgment.The State of Missouri aligned itself as a plaintiff in a Clean Water Act enforcement action against the metropolitan sewer district for St. Louis. The City counterclaimed against the State, and the State raised an Eleventh Amendment defense. The Court disallowed that defense, holding that the state had waived its sovereign immunity by taking action to invoke federal jurisdiction. -
June 04, 2009
11th Circuit Decision in Friends of the Everglades v. South Florida Water Management District
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on June 4 issued its decision in Friends of the Everglades v. South Florida Water Management District. The Court applied Chevron deference to EPA rulemaking on the question of water transfer, and reversed the lower court's decision that an NPDES permit be required for water transfers from canals to Lake Okeechobee.The Court found that the Clean Water Act prohibits against "discharge of any pollutant," and that discharge is defined to mean "any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source." The Court said that the South Florida Water Management District argued that the statute was ambiguous as to whether the "unitary waters" theory governed, or not. Under the "unitary waters" theory, an "addition" of a pollutant occurs when the pollutant first enters navigable waters-- not at the point of moving between navigable waters. The Friends of the Everglades argued that the statute unambiguously foreclosed application of the unitary waters approach, and required the Court to only give such deference to EPA's rules as their persuasiveness deserved.The Court reviewed the Friends of the Everglades arguments that the language of the Clean Water Act unambiguously precludes the unitary waters strategy in EPA's rule; and rejected them.The Court ruled that the statute is ambiguous with respect to the issue of whether "navigable waters" and "waters of the United States" refer to waters in the individual sense or as one unitary whole. Thus, the issue became: Did EPA's rulemaking reasonably implement the terms of the Act? The Court held that the regulation is reasonable.The Court reversed the lower court's decision, which had required NPDES permits in water transfer situations.The decision also discussed a less critical issue of some interest to state legal counsel who represent resource management boards like the South Florida Water Management District. The Court ruled that since the plaintiffs were seeking injunctive relief clearly available in a suit against the District's executive director, under Ex Parte Young. Therefore, whether the board itself was made a party became a moot point. -
April 29, 2009
White Tanks Concerned Citizens v. Strock
The Army Corps of Engineers issued a 404 permit allowing development in the White Tanks Mountan area. An citizens' group sued for an injunction to stop the development. The Ninth Circuit's analysis turned on the NEPA review prior to the Corps' issuance of a 404 permit, and concluded that the Corps' NEPA review was too narrow. The court remanded the matter to the trial level with instructions to issue an injunction against issuance of the permit until an adequate environmental analysis was complete. -
April 29, 2009
Congressional Research Service Report: Pesticide Use and Water Quality
The Congressional Record Service has issued an updated report discussing questions surrounding the area of pesticides that get into the water. The report outlines existing case law and potential regulatory or statutory responses to perceived conflict between the Clean Water Act and the Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. -
April 19, 2009
Alaska Department of Law Files Suit for Penalties and to Recover State Revenues Tied to Crude Oil Spills
The Alaska Department of Law has filed a civil lawsuit against BP (Exploration) Alaska, Inc. (BPXA), stemming from the 2006 crude oil pipeline spills and production shutdowns at Prudhoe Bay. In the lawsuit, the state is requesting penalties for violations of environmental laws and just compensation for state revenues lost as a result of BPXA’s negligent corrosion prevention practices. -
April 19, 2009
Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal Comments on Commerce Department's Decision to Uphold NY Objections to Broadwater Project
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on April 13 announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce -- in an historic environmental victory -- has upheld the State of New York's rejection of Broadwater, a proposed massive liquefied natural gas terminal in Long Island Sound."This historic ruling by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce should be a final broadside to Broadwater, sinking it forever," Blumenthal said. "No recent project more richly deserved this demise - as an aesthetic monstrosity and environmental atrocity, a sitting terrorist target, security threat and navigation danger.The decision is available at:http://www.ogc.doc.gov/czma.nsf/78f06a8fa89def138525717a0059de08/49320adef708e3ef85257597005efa67?OpenDocument -
April 01, 2009
Supreme Court Issues Opinion in Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper and Related Cases
The Supreme Court issued its opinion in several related Clean Water Act cases, including Entergy Corp v. Riverkeeper on April 1.In ruling for a group of power plans and their representatives, the Court held that "The EPA permissibly relied on cost-benefit analysis in setting the national performance standards and in providing for cost-benefit variances from those standards as part of the Phase II regulations."For a short discussion of the case, seehttp://www.scotusblog.com/wp/analysis-reading-the-meaning-of-silence/ -
March 06, 2009
Attorney General cooper Urges South Carolina to Accept Water Commission as Appropriate Adjudicator
A water rights lawsuit brought by South Carolina against North Carolina could be resolved by a Commission that has already been established by the two states, Attorney General Roy Cooper said Monday, March 2.Cooper believes that the North Carolina and South Carolina Catawba-Wateree River Basin Advisory Commission would be the best place to resolve the dispute.“Your Commission has a proven track record of working cooperatively with respect to water-related issues that impact both States. Consequently, I believe that the Commission would be much better situated to achieve meaningful resolution of this dispute than would litigation,” Cooper wrote in a letteraccepting the Commission's offer to resolve the dispute dated February 26. -
February 17, 2009
Fourth Circuit Reinstates Army Corps OK on Mountaintop Mining
The 4th Circuit overturned a ruling on Friday requiring the Army Corps of Engineers to take a harder look at the environmental impact of "mountaintop removal," a method of coal mining that involves blasting peaks to tap underlying coal deposits. The Office of the West Virginia Attorney General, Darrell McGraw, participated as an amicus representing various state administrative agencies in support of the Corps of Engineers and coal mining companies. -
February 06, 2009
Wisconsin AG Reaches Settlement in Dairy Manure Case
The Wisconsin Department of Justice has settled a lawsuit against United Meadows Dairy, LLC and its owner/operator Jeff Meulemans, for violations of state water pollution control laws at United Meadows' dairy operation in Brown County."It is against the law for farms to discharge manure into Wisconsin's waters," Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said. "The permitting process is intended to regulate farms to prevent discharges from their production area as well as closely monitors the land application of manure in order to protect the waters of the state. The Department of Justice will continue to work with the DNR to ensure compliance with the law and to help prevent future violations." -
February 02, 2009
Lake Meadows Water Trust Settles State Lawsuit over Drinking Water Violations
Lake Meadows Water Trust, which operates a public water system in the City of Muskego, has agreed to pay forfeitures and expedite compliance plans in order to settle state claims brought under Wisconsin's drinking water laws. Long-term exposure to elevated levels of radium in drinking water poses a higher risk of bone cancer for the people exposed. In announcing the settlement, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen stressed the importance of all water systems, even as small as Lake Meadows, which serves approximately 200 households, ensuring that they provide drinking water that meets state health-based standards. -
January 26, 2009
Michigan CAFO Rules Upheld
In a case litigated by Assistant Attorney General Alan Hoffman, a Newaygo Circuit County Court discussed the relationship between the state's approved NPDES system, and upheld Michigan's CAFO regulations. A group of regulated associations and corporations had challenged the rules on a variety of grounds, seeking a declaratory judgment to invalidate the rules. -
January 22, 2009
Federal Magistrate Levies $525,000 Fine for Wildlife Refuge Brine Spill
A federal magistrate orders a Houston oil production company to pay $525,000 to various agencies for a brine spill that polluted the water of Delta National Wildlife Refuge near Venice.Magistrate Judge Daniel Knowles also put Texas Petroleum Investment Co. on probation Wednesday for two years. It pleaded guilty in October to a misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act. -
January 20, 2009
Wisconsin AG Van Hollen Reaches Settlement in Wetlands Case
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced today that the Wisconsin Department of Justice has settled a lawsuit against Pine Ridge of Wautoma, LLC and Mathew P. Brown, LLC for violations of state environmental protection laws. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Pine Ridge has agreed to pay penalties and assessments totaling $16,340 for the violations. It has also committed to finish restoring the disturbed area and to monitor that area in order to ensure that invasive or non-native species do not become established."The law is clear. Those wishing to place fill in wetlands or dredge lakes must first seek and obtain a permit from the DNR," Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said. "This process ensures the state's waters are protected, for the benefit of Wisconsin citizens and the environment. Un-permitted activities can seriously harm aquatic life and the quality of our waterways and wetlands. The Department of Justice will continue to work with the DNR to ensure compliance with the law." -
January 20, 2009
Wisconsin AG Van Hollen Settles Drinking Water Suit
The City of Fond du Lac has agreed to pay $35,000 to settle state claims brought under Wisconsin's drinking water laws. In announcing the settlement, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen recognized the City's commitment to taking comprehensive steps to ensure the provision of safe drinking water. "The citizens of our state must be ensured that their drinking water meets state standards, and the City of Fond du Lac has worked hard to provide that assurance." -
January 16, 2009
Statement by Oregon Attorney General John Kroger on Bush Administration Challenges
Attorney General John Kroger issued a statement on January 15, outlining the state's position on three challenges to recently promulgated federal rules. -
January 16, 2009
Oregon Plans Legal Actions Against Last-Minute Administration Actions
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski and Attorney General John Kroger today announced three separate legal challenges to federal executive actions that threaten the environment and a woman's right to choose.The state will appeal a decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorizing the Bradwood Landing LNG facility on the Columbia River. Oregon also plans to go to court to block two last minute Bush Administration regulations that would undermine crucial provisions of the Endangered Species Act and basic reproductive rights for Oregonians. -
January 13, 2009
Sixth Circuit Vacates FIFRA-Compliant Pesticides'Exemption from Clean Water Act Permit Requirement
The Sixth Circuit on January 7 vacated EPA's rule granting pesticides applied in compliance with FIFRA exemption from the permitting requirements of the CWA. Environmental groups and industry groups had petitioned for review in several circuits, and the case was assigned to the Sixth Circuit. A group of industry organizations intervened in support of the rule.The Court dispensed with environmentalists' subject-matter jurisdiction challenge with a brisk statement that its jurisdiction under Section 1369(b)(1)(F) was proper, because the case deals with permitting under the CWA.The Court then addressed the merits, finding that the CWA unambiguously includes excess pesticides, pesticide residue, and biological materials (including biological pesticides) in the set of pollutants. It also found that chemical pesticide residues are unambiguously discharged from point sources in application. Under this first-phase Chevron analysis, the Court held the rule fatally flawed and vacated it. -
January 13, 2009
Supreme Court Denies Cert in Pinto Creek Case
On January 12, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Carlota Copper Company v. Friends of Pinto Creek, et al. The denial leaves in place the Ninth Circuit's decision, which prevented EPA from issuing a new permit in the impaired waters Pinto Creek before establishing a compliance schedule for other dischargers. At the appellate level, the case turned on interpretation of 40 CFR 122.4(i).The appellate decision is available on the Ninth Circuit's website at http://www.dailycasereport.com/index.php?q=open_pdf/2335 -
January 13, 2009
Transcript in Coeur Alaska v. SEACC Available
The Supreme Court heard arguments in Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, et al on January 12. The case was previewed during the NAGTRI Clean Water Act training in fall of 2008. The central issue of the case is the appropriate regulatory regime for certain mine tailings-- the Section 402 NPDES system, or the Section 404 system. -
January 13, 2009
Groups sue EPA over ship discharge permit - Chicago Tribune
Groups sue EPA over ship discharge permit
Chicago Tribune, United States -Jan 12, 2009
... appeals court in California, saying the permit's requirements are too weak. EPA says the requirements are a practical way to make progress on clean water.
Groups sue EPA over ship discharge permitWTTE all 165 news articles Environmentalists sued the federal government Monday, January 12, over a new policy that critics say does too little to prevent cargo ships from dumping invasive species into the nation's waterways. In their lawsuit filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, three groups contended the permit's requirements were too weak to meet Clean Water Act standards. In their lawsuit filed with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, three groups contended the permit's requirements were too weak to meet Clean Water Act standards.
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January 10, 2009
Alaska Mining Case to be Heard on Monday, January 12 in the U.S. Supreme Court
On Monday, January 12, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argument on whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may not issue a permit for discharge of fill material otherwise subject to effluent limitations under Sections 301 or 306 of the Clean Water Act.For a more detailed discussion of the case, and links to the lower-court opinion, the briefs of parties and the numerous amici, see http://www.scotuswiki.com. Go to the Case Index OT08, and scroll down to January 12. -
January 09, 2009
Enbridge Energy Settles State Lawsuit Over Wisconsin Environmental Law Violations For $1,100,000
Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership has agreed to pay $1,100,000 to settle state claims under Wisconsin's waterway and wetland protection and storm water control laws. The laws applied to Enbridge Energy's pipeline construction across the state in 2007 and 2008, and the judgment resolves charges that Enbridge Energy failed to comply with certain requirements under those laws. -
January 09, 2009
Settlement Reached in Virginia Stream and Stormwater Case
Five defendants associated with the construction of the Liberty Village housing development in Lynchburg, Va., will pay a $300,000 penalty and fund more than $1 million in stream and wetlands restoration work for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and permit restrictions during construction, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on January 7. -
January 09, 2009
Oklahoma Pipeline Company to Pay Penalty for Jet Fuel Spill
The Explorer Pipeline Company has agreed to pay a $3.3 million civil penalty in order to resolve an alleged violation of the Clean Water Act stemming from a July 14, 2007, spill of over 6,500 barrels (approximately 275,000 gallons) of jet fuel from its interstate pipeline at a location near Huntsville, Texas, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on January 9. -
December 31, 2008
Branford Company Admits Violating Clean Water Act - Hartford Courant
Branford Company Admits Violating Clean Water Act
Hartford Courant, United States -2 hours ago
A short time later, The Connecticut Fund for the Environment began working with state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who sued Atlantic Wire and ...
Atlantic Wire pleads guilty to polluting riverTMCnet all 9 news articles -
December 30, 2008
Rapanos Settles Famous Wetlands Case
John A. Rapanos and related defendants have agreed to pay a civil penalty and recreate approximately 100 acres of wetlands and buffer areas to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act at three sites in Midland and Bay counties, Michigan, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today. -
December 29, 2008
Selected recent California newspaper editorials - San Jose Mercury News
Selected recent California newspaper editorials
San Jose Mercury News, USA -12 hours ago
He's right, there may be other causes of the loss of fish such as invasive species and pollution from agricultural and urban runoff. ...
Public Water Agencies Throughout California File Suit to Prevent ...MarketWatch all 79 news articles -
December 29, 2008
Oregon Natural Desert Ass'n v. U.S. Forest Servivce
The Ninth Circuit declined to extend the reasoning of the SD Warren case (dam "discharge" need not be discharge of a POLLUTANT to trigger 401 certification requirement)to require state certification for Forest Service issuance of a grazing permit on federal lands, because no point source caused contamination. -
December 28, 2008
Flying J Ordered to Pay Fine for Water Violations
Attorney General Tom Miller says the owner of two popular travel plazas has been ordered to pay $140,000 for water pollution violations. Miller filed a lawsuit on December 15. The suit stemmed from a diesel fuel spill at the Clive site near Des Moines in March 2007 that polluted Walnut Creek for about two miles downstream from the Flying J Plaza, and also from what Miller called “scores of environmental violations over several years” at the Davenport Flying J. -
December 27, 2008
Attorney General Corbett announces charges against Berks County kosher poultry plant, former plant owner and plant operator
The owner of a former Berks County kosher poultry plant and the pretreatment plant operator were charged today by agents from the Attorney General's Environmental Crimes Section with discharging industrial waste including poultry blood, feathers, hearts and gizzards into a Schuylkill River tributary.
Originally from PA Office of Attorney General Press RSS Feed
