In 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in County of Maui V. Hawaii Wildlife Fund addressed when a permit is required under the Clean Water Act for discharges to groundwater. Prior to Maui, it was a long standing debate as to when the Clean Water Act (CWA) in order to discharge to groundwater. Traditionally,
Supreme Court Adopts Major New “Functional Equivalent Test” for Discharges under Clean Water Act
On April 23rd, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a major ruling interpreting the breadth and scope of the Clean Water Act in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. The central issue was whether the Clean Water Act requires a permit when pollutants originate from a point source but are conveyed to navigable waters by
Talking Solutions to Lake Erie Algae Blooms
On Friday, the Legislative Service Commission hosted a seminar discussing Ohio’s efforts to solve harmful algae blooms in its waterways including Lake Erie. The seminar brought together researchers, government officials and business groups to discuss the science and solutions for addressing algae blooms.
The biggest takeaways from the seminar is that Ohio has a very
Discharges to Groundwater- 6th Circuit Limits the Reach of the Clean Water Act
You would think that the regulatory reach of the Clean Water Act(CWA), which was passed in 1972, would be well settled law. However, recent litigation has demonstrated that this is certainly not the case.
Which Wetlands and Streams are Protected?
The U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in multiple times on which wetlands and streams are
Ruling Expands Rights to Bring Citizen Suits under Clean Water Act
The ruling in Upstate Forever and Savannah Riverkeeper v. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, LP expands the rights of citizens groups to bring suits for penalties and injunctive relief under the Clean Water Act even when a state EPA is actively involved in addressing the issue. Furthermore, the court ruling allows claims to be brought even
Court Finds Industrial Stormwater “Presumptively Dirty”
For a long period of time, U.S. EPA exempted stormwater from coverage under the Clean Water Act. This was largely due to the fact that EPA had enough on to do in simply regulating discharges from traditional point sources of water pollution. In 1987, Congress gave EPA the authority to regulate stormwater discharges from "presumptively
Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Sewer District’s Stormwater Program
After five years of litigation, the Ohio Supreme Court issued its decision today in Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) v. Bath et. al., upholding the District’s authority to implement a storm water management program. The Supreme Court’s decision overturns an prior ruling by the Appellate Court which had held NEORSD did not have
How Easy is it for Cities to Re-Open their CSO/SSO Consent Decrees?
For over a decade, U.S. EPA has embarked on a national enforcement strategy regarding combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) from municipal wastewater treatment systems. As part of the enforcement strategy, U.S. EPA has entered a large number of federal consent decrees which establish deadlines for the elimination of CSOs/SSOs. These decrees
Ohio Supreme Court Invalidates Nearly Two Thousand Water Quality Determinations
The Ohio Supreme Court provided a major set back to the Ohio EPA efforts to establish water quality based discharge limits in its surface water discharge permits (i.e. NPDES permits). The Court determined in Fairfield County v. Nally that TMDLs must go through formal administrative rulemaking before they can be used to support discharge limits
Ohio Looks to Tighten Nutrient Regulation to Address Toxic Algae
Pardon the pun, but toxic algae has been a growing problem in Ohio. Significant issues with toxic algae have occurred in Lake Erie, Grand Lake St. Marys and elsewhere. In fact, Ohio EPA recently added a new feature to their webpage in which you can track and identify toxic algae issues around the state:
