A federal judge on Monday ruled that a sprawling collage of salt ponds in Redwood City is subject to protections under the Clean Water Act — going against a previous decision by the Environmental Protection Agency that would have eased development along the bay.
A top water regulator from New Mexico yesterday warned senators that hardrock mines, wastewater facilities and other industrial entities could face stricter environmental oversight as the Trump administration’s Waters of the U.S., or WOTUS, rule takes effect.
Coal miners, stone quarrying companies, and other businesses are rushing to lock down any exemptions to federal water jurisdiction for at least five years, under changes the Trump administration recently made to the nation’s water rule.
Emphasizing the “unprecedented” bipartisan cooperation between local and state governments, Border Patrol and the International Boundary & Water Commission, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced short-term projects Wednesday to plug the international sewage flow across the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Environmental Protection Agency is being sued for the second time in a week over a rule that limits states’ ability to fight big projects such as pipelines, with tribes and environmental groups who fear damage to nearby waters taking the latest action in court.
The new suit, filed Tuesday on behalf of three different tribal groups and the Sierra Club, argues states and tribes have a right to place conditions on federal projects that could degrade waters within their borders or to reject them altogether.
A defunct Obama-era water rule isn’t poised to spring back to life in Ohio or Tennessee, after the Sixth Circuit on Wednesday sided with critics of the regulation in an unusual appeal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dismissed the appeal as moot, and remanded the case to the district court. The appeals panel also vacated the district court’s order denying the states’ motion for a preliminary injunction against the 2015 Clean Water Rule, saying the mootness of the case precluded the panel from reviewing the merits of that order.
The Justice Department will avoid pursuing Clean Water Act civil enforcement cases that overlap with state actions, the agency’s top environment lawyer announced Monday.
Washington has joined New York, California, and 17 other states plus the District of Columbia in filing a lawsuit to prevent the Trump Administration’s proposal to change the Clean Water Act.
Attorneys general in 20 states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Tuesday, alleging that new federal rules undermine their ability to protect rivers, lakes and streams within their borders.
The EPA is facing two separate challenges from environmental groups over its water rule that narrows the ability of states to veto energy infrastructure projects such as oil and gas pipelines if they adversely affect water quality.
