On April 23, 2013, the D.C. Circuit reversed the district court in Mingo Logan Coal Co. v. EPA, stating that the agency has the power to retroactively veto and withdraw coal mining permits. At issue was a Section 404 permit issued in 2007 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) that allowed the … Continue Reading
EPA has finally thrown in the towel over trying to establish a one-size-fits-all numeric turbidity effluent limitation for construction stormwater sites. EPA’s final effluent guidelines for construction and development was promulgated on December 1, 2009 (74 FR 62995, Dec. 1, 2009). The rule has had a “stormy” lifetime. After it bacame clear that EPA was having trouble defending its … Continue Reading
On Monday, a three-member panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously struck down two Environmental Protection Agency wastewater treatment rules challenged by a group of Iowa cities. The rules would have forced cities across the country to spend billions of dollars if the court had upheld them. According to court documents, the EPA had … Continue Reading
A landowner may be responsible for Clean Water Act violations even though the landowner was not involved in the activity that now results in a discharge of pollutants. This may be the result of a case now pending before the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards v. … Continue Reading
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers just amended its nationwide permitting regulations so that nationwide permit verification letters will expire on the same date that a nationwide permit expires. Nationwide permits authorize activities having minimal adverse impacts, and are often sought by developers as opposed to individual Section 404 permits. Some nationwide permits require pre-construction notifications from developers. A response verification … Continue Reading
Freshman State Representative Gloria Johnson (D) Knoxville is sponsoring the latest legislative attempt to ban surface coal mining above 2,000 feet. The bill, entitled “The Scenic Vistas Protection Act,” is hailed by some as a means to eliminate so-called mountaintop removal in Tennessee, even though Tennessee already prohibits mountaintop removal mining within the federal definition. The Act amends the Water … Continue Reading
Tomorrow (Jan. 15) the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a case of significance to the mitigation community. In the 1990’s the St. John’s River Management District in Florida refused to issue a development permit to John Koontz on the basis that the he refused to agree to conduct offsite mitigation of impacts … Continue Reading
The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari on a case addressing the relationship between interstate water agreements or “compacts” and the Commerce Clause. The factual dispute in Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann is between Texas and Oklahoma. The specific question is whether the Red River Compact—an interstate agreement between Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana that … Continue Reading
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a very short, unanimous opinion in Los Angeles County Flood District v. Natural Resources Defense Council, holding that the flow of water from an improved portion of a navigable waterway into an unimproved portion of the same waterway does not qualify as a “discharge of a pollutant” under the … Continue Reading
Today, a district court in Virginia issued an opinion in Virginia Department of Transportation v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The case holds that U.S. EPA lacked the authority to approve a total maximum daily load for Accotink Creek in Fairfax County with flow based limits on storm water. The creek was listed as impaired from sediments. The … Continue Reading
TDEC has removed from the agenda of tomorrow’s meeting of the Board of Water Quality, Oil and Gas consideration of the Water Quality Standard rules (the so-called Triennial Review Rules). The updated agenda still includes adoption of the revised biosolids rule. We will update the blog to notify you when future meetings are set with TDEC to discuss the … Continue Reading
Dramatic images from Hurricane Sandy remind us of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Photographs of a darkened lower Manhattan prove that even the mightiest of cities is just a storm away from paralysis. Typhoons, tornados, earthquakes, droughts, and floods change lives in instants all across North America and the world. Our ability to … Continue Reading
During the next few years over 600 coal-fired power generating units may shut down. The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) reports the announced retirement by the year 2020 of units with a total of over 24 gigawatts capacity. The units, with average age of 54 years, are located primarily in the mid-south and southeastern United … Continue Reading
TDEC is prepared to submit its final verision of the Triennial Review Rules next week at the meeting of the Board for Water Quality, Oil and Gas. The Full Version of the Rules is located here: Complete Amendments. The Redline from the 2010 Amendments is located here. The version with the 2011 and changes in 2012 is located here. … Continue Reading
TDEC recently issued its Final Proposed 2012 303(d) List. Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act requires states to list streams not meeting one or more water quality standards. According to the guidance accompanying the list “If a stream is impaired, regardless of whether or not it appears on the 303(d) List, the Division cannot authorize … Continue Reading
The United State Supreme Court issued a unanimous (8-0) decision today, holding that the temporary flooding of private land by the government is “not categorically exempt” from liability under the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause. Between 1993 and 2000, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers released water from the Clearwater Dam in Missouri, about 115 mile … Continue Reading
Corvallis, Oregon, is using innovative, real-time monitoring equipment to detect pollutants in wastewater 24-hours/day. Lisa Tedder reports in The Corvallis Advocate about the use of equipment produced by Zap Technologies that allows a triage of wastewater influent so that operators can apply the most effective and efficient treatment. The equipment, called the LiquID Station, uses … Continue Reading
Roger McClendon, Chief Sustainability Officer of Yum! brands, recently spoke at a meeting of our firm’s Sustainability & Emerging Technologies group. McClendon,who reports directly to the company’s Chairman and CEO, described Yum!’s goal to “become The Defining Global Company that Feeds the World.” The company’s food business includes well-known brands KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. … Continue Reading
Check out this neat new tool from EPA: http://watersgeo.epa.gov/mywaterway/. According EPA this will help people find information on the condition of thousands of lakes, rivers and streams across the United States from their smart phone, tablet or desktop computer. I tried it and found it was easy to use and informative… Continue Reading
Commissioner Bob Martineau announced today that Dr. Sandra Dudley was appointed to lead the new consolidated Division of Water Resources. This Division includes the Divisions of Water Pollution Control, Water Supply and Groundwater. She was the Executive Director of the Dickson County Water Authoirty since 2006. She has a Ph.D in Engineering as well as a … Continue Reading
TDEC has proposed new rules that will address requirements for permits for hydrofracking. The amendment adds a definition of “Fracturing” to the definitions as follows: ”the process of pumping fluids, gas or other substances down a well under pressure to create fractures in the producing formation to facilitate oil or gas extraction.” According to TDEC these amendments will … Continue Reading
TDEC is soliciting public comments on revised mitigation guidelines. According to the announcement the guidelines would revise the 2004 Stream Mitigation Guidelines and would be used in determining the type and quantity of mitigation for permitted stream impacts for both state and federal regulatory prgrams. A significant part of the revision is the inclusion of … Continue Reading
The United States Supreme Court today issued its opinion in PPL Montana v. Montana Though the case involved state interpretations of navigability of waters in Montana that also flow out of state, when the Supreme Court granted certiorari there was great concern that the court would expand the traditional navigability standards with new interpretations by the … Continue Reading
TDEC announced today that it will be hold two public hearings on February 23, 2012 to accept additional comments to the proposed triennial review rules in light of changes the Division recommended at the November Water Quality Control Board meeting. The live hearings will be on the 17th Floor Conference Room, L & C Tower at 1:30 and 6:30 … Continue Reading
