Mark RyanOct 16, 20201 minEPA Wins an Iowa CAFO Case An EPA ALJ today ruled in EPA's favor in a CAFO enforcement action in Armstrong, Iowa. A copy of the 108-page decision is attached below....
Mark RyanOct 14, 20201 minNew Corps/EPA Memo on Ditch ExemptionsThe Corps and EPA recently released the joint memo on interpreting the 404(f)1)(C) ditch exemption. Given that most ditches are no longer...
Mark RyanOct 12, 20201 minEPA Moves to Dismiss 401 Cert. Rule ChallengeOn September 14, EPA filed a motion to dismiss an enviro group challenge to the new 401 cert. rule on the grounds that the challenge is n...
Mark RyanOct 12, 20202 minAnd Here Are Another Four New CasesThe Delaware Riverkeeper case below is an interesting attorney fee case. You seldom see the defendant seeking its fees. For those interes...
Mark RyanOct 11, 20202 minFive New CWA CasesHere are five new cases dealing with global warming, train derailments, 404 permit challenges and an industrial stormwater settlement. Th...
Mark RyanOct 6, 20202 minCalifornia Court Overturns EPA JD on San Francisco Salt PondsThe N.D. of California yesterday overturned a 2019 EPA JD that found the Carghill Salt Ponds in San Francisco to be not covered by the CW...
Mark RyanOct 4, 20202 minThe Courts Have Been Active This Past WeekThe courts issued 14 new CWA opinions this past week, which is an extraordinary number of new cases in a week. It'll take me a few days t...
Mark RyanSep 27, 20202 minDOJ Moves to Consolidate a Piece of the WOTUS LitigationThere are two WOTUS cases pending in the W.D. of Washington, one by a collection of enviro groups and another by the Washington Cattlemen...
Mark RyanSep 22, 20202 minA Corps JD Challenge, a Trash TMDL and a Good Judicial Tongue LashingHere are three new CWA cases. And here's judicial ire you never want to see directed at you: "The staggering irony underlying [defendant'...
Mark RyanSep 16, 20201 minEPA/Corps WOTUS JD ToolsYesterday, I wrote about the difficulty of determining whether a stream is intermittent or ephemeral under the new WOTUS rule, and I ment...
Mark RyanSep 15, 20202 minIntermittent Streams Under the 2020 WOTUS Rule: A View From the FieldWhen the new WOTUS rule was proposed earlier this year, I commented that it would not be easy to administer, despite the pronouncements t...
Mark RyanSep 15, 20201 minBoring But Significant from the EPAEPA announced today the release to the proposed 2020 Financial Capability Assessment, which is the EPA tool used by communities to plan f...
Mark RyanSep 14, 20201 minSenate Action on WOTUSThe Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is holding a hearing on Wednesday, September 16 on the new WOUTS rule. The hearing will...
Mark RyanSep 14, 20201 minNew NWP Changes to Be Published Tomorrow in the Fed. Reg. The Corps is scheduled to publish the proposed changes to its section 404 Nationwide Permits (NWPs) in tomorrow's Federal Register (Septe...
Mark RyanSep 13, 20202 min9th Cir. Partially Overturns EPA Approval of Idaho NDPES Permit ProgramIn the unreported decision below, the 9th Cir. last week remanded without vacatur EPA's approval of the Idaho NPDES program for failure t...
Mark RyanSep 1, 20201 minNew NPDES Permit Enforcement CaseThis is a good case to read for those wishing to learn a thing or two about NPDES permit enforcement. It addresses many of the thornier i...
Mark RyanAug 31, 20201 minNew ABA Trends Articles on Maui and TMDLsShannon M. Arata, Michelle B. Nowlin and Stephen E. Roady just published a great, succinct primer on the recent Supreme Court Maui decisi...
Mark RyanAug 31, 20201 minA New Pipeline Case and More WOTUS LitigationEnviro groups continue to litigate aggressively against pipelines with mix results, at best. See the Sierra Club case below. As expected...
Mark RyanAug 27, 20202 minSJ Motions Filed in the Dist. of S. Carolina WOTUS LitigationThe plaintiff enviro groups and the United States have exchanged summary judgment motions in the Dist. of S. Carolina WOTUS-challenge cas...
Mark RyanAug 27, 20202 minAnother 401 Cert. Complaint FiledA collection of environmental groups has filed a complaint in the District of South Carolina challenging the new EPA 401 cert. rule. See ...