Clean Water – Environmental and Energy Law Program

Latest

Media Inquiries

Regulatory Tracker

Defining Waters of the United States (WOTUS)

May 28, 2024

In the Media

Environmental Law Series: Sackett v. EPA, Water, & Wetlands

October 27, 2023

CleanLaw Podcast

Sackett v. EPA Decision: What the Justices Said and What this Means for Water with Jody Freeman, Richard Lazarus, and Steph Tai

Jody Freeman speaks with Richard Lazarus and Steph Tai about the US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Sackett v. EPA. They discuss how the Court’s reliance on a dictionary definition of waters will drastically limit Clean Water Act protections: severely shrinking what qualifies as covered wetlands and streams, and as a result, enfeebling the federal government’s ability to protect US water quality.

June 21, 2023

Regulatory Tracker

Power Plant Effluent Limits

Steam power plant wastewater discharges include arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium, chromium, and cadmium. Regulations for power plant discharges to surface waters were last updated in 1982 and did not focus on these toxic metals. Over the past 30 years, steam power plants – particularly coal-fired power plants – have begun generating new wastewater streams containing these pollutants, from installation and operation of air pollution control equipment and from gasification of coal.

April 3, 2023

Regulatory Tracker

Section 401 Water Quality Certification

Clean Water Act section 401 governs certification of water quality. Under section 401, any project seeking federal permits or licenses for activities that “may result in any discharge into the navigable waters” must also obtain a water quality certification from a state or interstate authority.

February 23, 2023

Legal Analysis

2022 Revised Definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS)

On December 30, 2022, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers released their final rule revising the definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). This final rule builds on the […]

February 10, 2023

CleanLaw Podcast

CleanLaw — Erin Brockovich and Caitlin McCoy on Water Pollution Regulations and Effective Advocacy

Major water issues in the U.S. today and what people can do to work toward better water quality in their communities and beyond.

November 5, 2020

Quick Takes

Energy EOs In Depth: Administration Opaque on Why It’s Studying Regional Energy Bottlenecks

This is part of a series analyzing the April 10th executive orders on energy infrastructure. See the links at the bottom of this page for the related pieces. Section 7 […]

April 30, 2019

CleanLaw Podcast

Caitlin McCoy and Sarah Winner on WOTUS

Caitlin speaks with Sarah Winner, Staff Attorney of the Center for Coalfield Justice and Interim Executive Director of the Three Rivers Waterkeeper, about the proposed Clean Water Act rule on […]

December 14, 2018