EPA AND ACOE ISSUE NEW “WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES” RULE FOR CLEAN WATER ACT JURISDICTION

In April 2020, two days before the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers (ACOE), published the Navigable Waters Protection Rule redefining the scope of waters subject to federal regulation under the Clean Water Act (Act or CWA).

The Act, which prohibits the discharge of any pollutant into “navigable waters” without a permit from the EPA under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and the discharge of dredge or fill material into “navigable waters” without a permit from the ACOE under the Act’s Section 404 permit program, defines “navigable waters” as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” Although the Supreme Court has consistently held that the CWA’s jurisdiction extends beyond waters that are actually navigable, a clear definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) has eluded lower courts and federal regulators since the Supreme Court decided Rapanos v. United States in 2006. In Rapanos, a plurality opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia interpreted WOTUS to cover relatively permanent or continuously flowing bodies of water connected to traditional navigable waters, as well as adjacent wetlands with a continuous surface water connection to these waters. Although concurring in the ultimate decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote a separate opinion with a different interpretation of WOTUS, covering any wetlands that have a “significant nexus” with traditionally navigable waters. The 4-1-4 decision did not establish a clear precedent for the WOTUS definition.

In June 2015, the Obama Administration published the Clean Water Rule to clarify the WOTUS definition after questions arose over the government’s authority when confusion around the WOTUS definition stalled CWA enforcement actions. The Clean Water Rule looked to the Act’s objective “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters” and adopted Justice Kennedy’s “significant nexus” standard to implement this objective. The rule thus covered any waters that, either alone or in combination with similarly situated waters in the region, significantly affected the chemical, physical, or biological integrity of traditional navigable waters. It established six categories of waters that were jurisdictional by rule; specified waters that were excluded from CWA jurisdiction; and identified two categories of waters (similarly-situated regional waters and floodplain waters) that could be subjected to a case-specific significant nexus jurisdiction analysis.

The new Navigable Waters Protection Rule replaces the Clean Water Rule and, in doing so, shifts the emphasis of the WOTUS definition more in line with Justice Scalia’s plurality opinion in Rapanos. Under the new rule, jurisdictional waters “encompass relatively permanent flowing and standing waterbodies that are traditional navigable waters in their own right or that have a specific surface water connection to traditional navigable waters, as well as wetlands that abut or are otherwise inseparably bound up with such relatively permanent waters.” The new rule establishes four categories of jurisdictional waters: (1) the territorial seas and traditional navigable waters; (2) perennial and intermittent tributaries that contribute surface water flow to such waters; (3) certain lakes, ponds, and impoundments of jurisdictional waters; and (4) wetlands adjacent to other jurisdictional waters. All other waters or features are excluded from CWA jurisdiction.

This new rule will have the effect of further muddying the waters of CWA jurisdiction as the regulatory pendulum swings back once again, risking further confusion in an area where consistency and predictability are key. As the new rule reduces the Act’s reach over the nation’s waters, it is expected that it will also reduce the number of permits required under the NPDES and Section 404 permit programs. There are five lawsuits currently in federal court which are challenging the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, including a lawsuit in Massachusetts federal court.

We will continue to monitor judicial and administrative developments under the CWA as courts, the EPA, and the ACOE apply this new rule. For any questions regarding this evolving area of the law, please reach out to the attorneys at Mackie Shea Durning, PC.

By Peter M. Vetere

U.S. SUPREME COURT ISSUES NEW GUIDANCE ON CLEAN WATER ACT PERMITTING

In April, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision that could drastically expand the scope of activities requiring a permit under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA or Act). The case, County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, involved a wastewater reclamation facility in Hawaii that pumped treated waste water into groundwater injection wells, from which the effluent would enter groundwater and flow to the Pacific Ocean.

The Court held that, even though the effluent traveled through groundwater (a non-point source) before entering the ocean, this activity required a CWA permit, because it was “the functional equivalent of a direct discharge from the point source into navigable waters.” In doing so, the Court introduced a new test for determining whether indirect discharges, i.e., when point-source discharges of water pollution enters a non-point source (such as groundwater) before traveling to a water body covered by the CWA, required CWA permits.

The holding is particularly relevant to wastewater treatment facilities who pump treated effluent into groundwater wells, since that is the particular fact pattern at issue; however, it is also relevant to any point source discharger from whom pollutants could travel through groundwater or another non-point source into waters of the United States.

 

CWA Permitting and Application

The CWA prohibits the “discharge of any pollutant by any person” into the waters of the United States without that person obtaining a permit from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The Act defines “pollutant” broadly to include, among other things, any solid waste, sewage, and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water. A “discharge of a pollutant” is any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source. A “point source” is any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, conduit, or well, from which pollutants are or may be discharged.

Less clear is whether, and to what extent, a NPDES permit is required for discharges of pollutants to non-point sources, such as groundwater. Regulation of groundwater has traditionally been left to the states and not the federal government under the Act. Practically speaking, non-point source pollution is rarely traceable to any single discrete source and is, therefore, difficult to regulate through individual permits.

Not too long before the Court’s decision, in November 2019, the federal court in Massachusetts acknowledged the ambiguity inherent in the CWA’s application to discharges of pollutants into groundwater. In Conservation Law Foundation, Inc. v. Longwood Venues & Destinations, Inc., the District of Massachusetts deferred to EPA’s April 2019 interpretative statement on the issue and held that “discharges into groundwater are categorically excluded from the CWA’s regulatory regime, irrespective of any hydrological connection to navigable waters.” Thus, the Supreme Court’s decision in County of Maui nullified what was the (not at all longstanding) prevailing law on this issue in Massachusetts.

The Court’s Decision and the New “Functionally Equivalent” Test

In County of Maui, a majority of the Supreme Court (in a 6-3 opinion written by Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer) resolved the ambiguity by applying the CWA to certain discharges of pollutants to groundwater. Under the new test, the addition of a pollutant from any point source requires a NPDES permit when (i) a point source directly discharges pollutants into navigable waters, or (ii) the addition of the pollutants is “the functional equivalent of a direct discharge from the point source into navigable waters.”

Unfortunately, by resolving one ambiguity, the Court may have created more confusion instead of clarifying the law. The majority essentially staked a middle position between two arguments. The petitioner, the County of Maui’s wastewater treatment facility, argued for a bright-line “means-of-delivery” test where only direct discharges from a point source to a covered water required a permit, focusing on the manner in which the pollutant is conveyed to the covered water. The respondents, several environmental groups who filed a CWA citizen suit against the water treatment facility, argued for application of the Ninth Circuit’s “fairly traceable” test, which would have required a permit whenever pollutants are fairly traceable from the point source to a navigable water. The U.S. Solicitor General submitted an amicus brief in support of the petitioner and arguing for the application of the EPA’s April 2019 interpretative statement. The Court declined to grant deference to the EPA’s interpretation, because no party had requested it and because a total exclusion of all discharges through groundwater “would open a loophole allowing easy evasion of the [Act’s] basic purposes.”

In the end, the Court settled on the “functional equivalent” test and identified several factors which may be relevant to determining whether a particular discharge is the functional equivalent of one directly into navigable waters:

  • transit time;
  • distance traveled;
  • the nature of the material through which the pollutant travels;
  • the extent to which the pollutant is diluted or chemically changed as it travels;
  • the amount of pollutant entering the navigable waters relative to the amount of the pollutant that leaves the point source;
  • the manner by or area in which the pollutant enters the navigable waters; and
  • the degree to which the pollution has maintained its specific identity at the point it enters the navigable water.

The first two factors, time and distance, will be the most important factors in most cases.

The problem with this new test is that it introduces a number of new ambiguities to replace the original ambiguity over whether discharges to groundwater required a CWA permit. The Court acknowledged these shortcomings: the list of factors is not exhaustive (“courts can provide guidance through decisions in individual cases”); the two factors which the Court said are most important will “not necessarily [be important in] every case;” and even when time and distance are important, there is only a sliding scale of the acceptable range (a permit is required somewhere between “[w]here a pipe ends a few feet from navigable waters” and “[i]f the pipe ends 50 miles from navigable waters and the pipe emits pollutants that travel with groundwater, mix with much other material, and end up in navigable waters only many years later”).

During a status conference in federal district court following the decision, the Maui wastewater facility declared its intent to proceed to discovery and prepare its case for trial in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling. Both parties will have an opportunity to submit additional briefs on discovery issues, which the district court will hear in a further status conference at the end of June.

In combination with the EPA’s newly-promulgated Navigable Waters Protection Rule revising the definition of “waters of the United States,” which takes effect on June 22, 2020, the Supreme Court’s decision marks a major shift in CWA permitting.

We will continue to monitor judicial and administrative developments under the CWA as courts and the EPA apply this new “functional equivalent” test. For any questions regarding this evolving area of the law, please reach out to the attorneys at Mackie Shea Durning, PC.

 

By Peter M. Vetere

WOTUS, POTUS and SCOTUS: The Future of Clean Water Act Jurisdiction

In our Spring and Fall 2015 and Spring 2017 Newsletters, we predicted a growing morass of litigation challenging the EPA and Army Corps’ Clean Water Rule (the Rule) on the scope of jurisdictional Waters of the United States (WOTUS).  In 2015, President Obama, the EPA and the Corps issued a Rule (the 2015 Rule) that sought to codify existing criteria that EPA and the Corps had been applying on a case-by-case basis, using the three alternative tests announced by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) in Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006).  A flood of litigation resulted.  Even before the 2015 Rule was to take effect on August 28, 2015, 27 states filed federal lawsuits.  On October 9, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit stayed the 2015 Rule nationwide and agreed with the federal government that the 2015 Rule was reviewable exclusively in the circuit court of appeals.  SCOTUS agreed to decide the narrow jurisdictional issue.

In January 2018, SCOTUS issued a decision in Nationwide Association of Manufacturers v. Department of Defense, 138 S. Ct. 617 (2018), authored by Justice Sotomayor, which ruled that the appropriate forum for challenging the 2015 Rule is a federal district court.  SCOTUS reversed the Sixth Circuit and remanded with instructions to dismiss the petitions for lack of jurisdiction, and to vacate the nationwide injunction against the 2015 Rule.

President Trump in 2017 issued an Executive Order directing EPA and the Corps to vacate the 2015 Rule.  In February 2018, EPA and the Corps finalized a Rule (the 2018 Rule) that mirrors Justice Scalia’s opinion in Rapanos and delayed implementation until 2020.  Two district courts found the rulemaking to be arbitrary and capricious because EPA and the Corps issued the 2018 Rule without seeking meaningful public comment, and issued nationwide injunctions.  Three more district courts issued preliminary injunctions barring the use of the 2018 Rule in 28 states, because the POTUS agencies exceeded their authority under the Clean Water Act.  As a result of the federal court rulings, the 2015 Rule is still effective in 22 states, including Massachusetts. 

It will take another decade before there is a Final Rule on the scope of jurisdictional waters of the United States for future permitting of activities in wetlands and on adjacent lands, and enforcement actions under the CWA by EPA, the Corps and environmental groups.  The years will be marred by the inevitable rulemaking hijinks, and federal lawsuits challenging the rulemaking procedures and the substance of any proposed new Rule.  An enlightened and unified Congress could amend the CWA to better define the geographic and regulatory scope of WOTUS.  Without a Final Rule, decisions on proposed projects will continue on a case-by-case basis, using the three alternative tests announced in Rapanos, EPA and Corps guidance documents, criteria in a draft Rule, and Massachusetts practice and precedent.  Developers and landowners will need environmental lawyers and engineers who are immersed in the turbulent WOTUS.

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Environmental Law Update – Fall 2018

On September 30, the Massachusetts federal District Court dismissed Toxics Action Center, Inc. v. Casella Waste Systems, Inc.,  a citizens suit under the Clean Water Act and RCRA alleging that discharges of leachate from Casella’s Southbridge landfill through groundwater had damaged surface water and contaminated private wells. The Court dismissed the RCRA counts, because additional Court action would be duplicative of  MassDEP’s enforcement actions and, therefore, not “necessary.” The Court acknowledged that “[t]he First Circuit has not addressed whether a discharge of a pollutant that moves through ground water before reaching navigable waters may constitute a discharge of a pollutant, within the meaning of the CWA.”  But the Court sidestepped the groundwater discharge issue as follows: “a landfill is not a point source within the meaning of the CWA, this Court will not reach the issue of whether the CWA extends liability to surface water that is polluted via hydrologically connected groundwater.”

On September 26, the Department of Public Utilities issued an Order providing for utilities to pay direct incentives to owners of new solar generating sources under the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program.

On September 17, Massachusetts rolled out its first-in-the-nation 2018 State Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Plan which integrates climate change impacts and adaptation strategies with hazard mitigation planning.  The Plan qualifies the state for Stafford Act funds (per FEMA hazard mitigation grant criteria at 44 CFR § 201.4) and also complies with Executive Order 569.  The state will update the plan every five years, with continuous reviews, updates and revisions via the new Climate Change Clearinghouse.  To date, over 150 communities have performed vulnerability assessments and developed action-oriented resiliency plans under the Commonwealth’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program (MVP).  Certified MVP communities are eligible for MVP Action grant funding and other opportunities.

On September 4, the Supreme Judicial Court handed down New England Power Generators Association, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Protection rejecting the Power Generator’s challenge to MassDEP regulations requiring decreases in annual GHG emissions under the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA). Deferring to MassDEP’s interpretation of the Act, the Court ruled that the Department had the authority to impose annual declining emissions on the electric sector under Section 3 d of the Act, despite the existence of provisions in Section 3 c of the Act, which are specifically applicable to electric generating facilities.

On August 21, Governor Baker signed the $2.4B Environmental Bond Bill including provisions that put into law his 2016 Executive Order 569, establishing an integrated strategy for climate change adaptation discussed above.

On July 12, the EPA and Army Corps issued a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on their proposal to roll back the Obama-Era Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule defining the agencies’ Clean Water Act jurisdiction. The comment period ended on August 23, 2018.  Whatever the agencies ultimately decide, ongoing litigation is sure to continue to delay the clarity sought by so many in the regulated community over the breadth of the agencies’ jurisdiction.

In addition to EPA’s April 2018 proposed Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science rule, which would limit the scientific studies that the EPA could rely upon in evaluating new regulations, on June 13 the Agency issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking  to change the methodology used to calculate the cost and benefit of new environmental regulations.  Battle lines are being drawn over whether the EPA should continue to count so-called “co-benefits,” which take into account the indirect health benefits in addition to the direct benefits of a proposed new regulation. For example, in the case of the mercury air toxic rule, the EPA included $4-6M of direct health benefits from reduced mercury exposures and $80B in co-benefits attributable to the reduction of other pollutants, primarily particulate matter (PM).

In March, MassDEP promulgated a package of amendments to its air pollution control regulations at 310 CMR 7.00 across a wide array of topics, including a revamp of the rules governing appeals of air plan approvals, which had long been the source of legal uncertainty and litigation.

 

BBA and EBC welcome the new EPA Regional Administrator Alexandra Dunn

Tom Mackie and Peter Durning were honored to be a part of the Boston Bar Association and Environmental Business Council of New England’s co-sponsored program on February 15, 2018 welcoming the new EPA Regional Administrator, Alexandra Dunn.

Tom, Chair of the EBC, gave opening remarks welcoming over 200 guests from the legal and environmental consulting community to the event.

Peter, the Co-Chair of the BBA’s Energy and Environmental Law Section, provided closing remarks and a sincere thank you to Regional Administrator Dunn, following a 40-minute presentation and a robust question and answer period.

In her speech, Alex Dunn stressed the need to address core water quality concerns by focusing on nutrients in stormwater, stormwater runoff, and water infrastructure projects.  She also outlined other initiatives for her tenure as Regional Administrator, including emerging contaminants, environmental justice, interstate air shed issues, and finally closing out and potentially redeveloping the remaining Superfund sites in New England.

POTUS Has Trumped WOTUS Before SCOTUS

In our Spring and Fall 2015 Newsletters, we predicted a growing morass of litigation challenging the EPA and Army Corps’ Clean Water Rule (the “Rule”). The Rule sought to codify the criteria the agencies have applied on a case-by-case basis using the three alternative tests announced by the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) in Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006) to define the jurisdictional scope of Waters of the United States (“WOTUS”) under the Clean Water Act. As we predicted, industry groups, 30 states and environmental groups challenged the extension of EPA jurisdiction in federal district and appellate courts.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a nationwide stay of the Rule, and later agreed with the federal government that the Rule was reviewable exclusively in the circuit courts of appeal.  The SCOTUS agreed to resolve the jurisdictional fights over which federal court should hear challenges to the Rule.  Thus, the Sixth Circuit stayed the litigation over the merits of the WOTUS Rule until the SCOTUS decides the narrow jurisdictional question of which courts have jurisdiction to hear substantive challenges to the Rule.  SCOTUS arguments are scheduled for April with an expected June decision.  On April 3, 2017, SCOTUS denied POTUS’ request to stay hearing on the venue for the WOTUS review.

During the campaign, Donald Trump pledged to “eliminate the unconstitutional” Rule and to “direct the Army Corps of Engineers and EPA to no longer use this unlawful rule and related guidance documents in making jurisdictional determinations.”  The SCOTUS grant of review gave the POTUS time to decide how to eliminate the Rule.  On February 28, 2017, the POTUS decried the Rule as a “massive power grab” and signed an Executive Order to direct EPA Administrator Pruitt to begin the legal process to dismantle the Rule and to Attorney General Sessions to ask the court to delay a decision until a new regulation is released.  The process for withdrawing the Rule is lengthy, will require justification, be subject to public comment, and potential challenge in new lawsuits which may end up in the SCOTUS, that will include the POTUS’ newly appointed justice, Neil Gorsuch.  The Republican Congress could also scuttle the Rule legislatively.  (A non-binding resolution was introduced in the House of Representatives that supports the Executive Order.)  Congress could also defund EPA wetlands activities.

The Pruitt EPA will likely be less aggressive in enforcing Clean Water Act violations.  Massachusetts may not be as affected because it has a strong Wetlands Protection Act and many municipalities have Home Rule Wetlands Protection laws.

Until SCOTUS addresses the new Rule years from now, EPA and the Corps presumably will make WOTUS determinations using the Rapanos tests.  A Corps’ Jurisdictional Determination will in turn be subject to judicial review as “final agency action” under the SCOTUS decision in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., Inc., 101 S. Ct. 1807 (2016).  Lawyers for industry, public interests, conservationists and environmental organizations will be fully employed for the next decade.

Delegation of NPDES Program

In this space in the August 2016 Newsletter, we heralded Governor Baker and MassDEP’s efforts to secure from EPA delegation to administer the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). Proposed legislation was sent to die in study at the end of 2016 legislative season by the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture. On March 8, 2017, Governor Baker filed An Act to Enable the Commonwealth’s Administration of the Massachusetts Pollutant Discharge Elimination System that will allow MassDEP to administer the NPDES program as in 46 other states. The legislation will make changes to the Massachusetts Clean Waters Act, which are required for MassDEP to apply to EPA. The Fiscal Year 2018 budget proposal includes a $1.4 million “seed” investment to support the NPDES program. The appropriation will increase to $4.7 million in FY 2019. The initial funding will allow MassDEP to hire 12 new staffers to phase-in NPDES program development and conduct water quality analyses.
In addition to this legislation (if passed), MassDEP must demonstrate to EPA it has an effective plan for managing the NPDES program, the Clean Waters Act will meet federal requirements, and a funding plan is in place. EPA personnel and budget cuts proposed by the POTUS support the delegation plan. It is hoped that MassDEP will engage more closely with municipalities and other permittees, and be more flexible and collaborative in an interactive process that will consider what is technically and economically feasible to attain water quality standards. Delegation may also put MassDEP squarely in the litigation crosshairs of environmental groups which are unhappy with the manner or speed with which MassDEP implements the NPDES program

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The Demise of the Stream Protection Rule

The Republican Congress and the POTUS have stricken the Interior Department’s Stream Protection Rule that protected waterways from coal mining that was eight years in the making.  The rule would have imposed stronger requirements for avoiding coal mining practices that pollute streams and sources of drinking water, for restoring streams, and for reclaiming and replanting mined lands.  Testing and monitoring of streams near coal mines before, during and after mining were required.  On February 2, 2017, Congress employed a little-used tool called the Congressional Review Act to block the rule with a simple majority vote (House 228-194 and Senate 54-45).  On February 16, 2017, the POTUS became the first president in 16 years to sign a regulatory repeal resolution.  The rule would have protected 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forest in Appalachia.

2017 EPA Construction General Permit

The August 2016 Newsletter summarized the 2012 CPG for stormwater discharges from construction sites disturbing one or more acres of land.  The CPG included requirements for using 2009 technology-based effluent limitation guidelines and new source performance standards for the construction and development industry (C&D Rule), non-numerical effluent limits for erosion and sediment controls, soil stabilization, dewatering and Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs).  The article also previewed the draft 2017 CPG.

EPA has issued the 2017 CPG, effective February 16, 2017.  All existing sites under the 2012 CGP must update SWPPPs and file a new Notice of Intent by May 17, 2017.  The new CPG adds to the 2014 CPG.  It covers demolition sites, sets new C&D non-numeric effluent limits, requires self-inspections, corrective actions, training, and electronic reporting.  There are mandatory stabilization measures based on the size of the disturbance and requirements for erosion controls based on design specifications.  Developers and property owners must recognize that having a multi-binder generic SWPPP on the shelf in the construction trailer is not enough to comply with the CGP.  The document must be tailored to fit the site; the contractor needs to designate the SWPPP as the project erosion “bible,” and train its staff and subcontractors to consult the bible when erosion events occur.

Gold nugget tip:  Designate an Environmental Monitor who checks the predicted rainfall every day and the erosion and sedimentation controls before and after the storm event, and has authority to direct needed repairs.

The Fate of the Environment in the Age of Trump

Since Trump’s inauguration, friends and colleagues have been asking, “what impact will President Trump have on environmental law?” Along with the rest of the nation (and world), we are waiting to see just how far Trump will push his anti-environment agenda.

Here are a few observations from the dizzying first 90 days:
Read More → “The Fate of the Environment in the Age of Trump”