On March 18, 2019, the Federal District Court for the Northern District of New York approved a Consent Decree requiring the payment of a $100,000 civil penalty and resolving Clean Water Act claims against the owners and operators of a metal recycling facility in the...
Clean Water Act – CWA
Publicly Owned Sewer Systems Now Required To Report and Notify Of Combined Sewer Overflows
In 2012, the Sewer Pollution Right to Know Act (SPRTKA) was signed into law in New York State. This law requires that owners of publicly owned sewer systems (POSSs) advise the public when raw or partially treated sewage, including combined sewer overflows (CSOs), is...
Split Second Circuit Panel Invokes Chevron Doctrine, Reverses Southern District and Reinstates EPA’s Water Transfers Rule
In a 2-1 ruling, the Second Circuit reversed Southern District Judge Kenneth Karas, who had found that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) "Water Transfers Rule" was an unreasonable interpretation of the Clean Water Act. Writing for the majority and...
Tonawanda Coke Corporation Enters into a $12 Million Settlement with DEC and EPA for Alleged Violations of State and Federal Environmental Law
The U.S. Federal Government and the State of New York jointly announced on May 11, 2015 a $12 million settlement with Tonawanda Coke Corporation for a litany of alleged environmental violations at TCC's western New York coke manufacturing facility.The settlement comes...
EPA Blocks Clean Water Act Funding for Tappan Zee Bridge Reconstruction
The U.S. EPA easily rejected Governor Andrew Cuomo's loan request, refraining from calling it chutzpah of the highest order: the Governor tried to pass off bridge construction as an environmental project worthy of the federal Clean Water State Revolving Fund...
Yet Another Legal Challenge to the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station Fails
A marine transfer station operated on the East River at 91st Street for nearly six decades, temporarily storing municipal waste along the East River before loading it onto barges for disposal outside of Manhattan. But in 2004, the New York City announced plans to...
Expanded Clean Water Act Jurisdiction could be Coming ‘Round the River Bend
How easily can a significant expansion in jurisdiction be called just a "clarification" of existing jurisdiction? On April 21, 2014, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers published a proposed rule that promises to...
UPDATED: Federal Court Upholds $105 Million Judgment Against ExxonMobil in Bellwether Groundwater Contamination Litigation
Here's a pop quiz: after an eleven week trial in federal court, a jury hands down a verdict of nearly $105 million against ExxonMobil for contaminating New York City's drinking water. On appeal, the verdict is upheld. What environmental law enabled the jury to find,...
Court Holds Citizens Cannot Sue for Violations of Section 404 Permits under Clean Water Act
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Clean Water Act does not allow citizen suits to enforce the conditions of a § 404 Permit. See Atchafalaya Basinkeeper v. Chustz, No. 11-30471 (5th Cir. Apr. 25, 2012).A § 404 Permit, issued by the Army Corps...
Supreme Court Holds That Pre-Enforcement Judicial Review of EPA Administrative Orders Is Allowed
The Supreme Court of the United States has just unanimously ruled that administrative orders issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") under section 319 of the Clean Water Act ("CWA") are "final agency actions" subject to judicial review under the...
