Enviroconlaw Blog
Top Five Tips for Contractors to Ensure Storm Water Compliance
Published Date: February 28, 2024
Owners, developers and contractors have faced continued enforcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice for storm water violations at construction sites around the country. This type of enforcement action was filed against one of the nation’s largest homebuilders in Pennsylvania federal court. The contractor agreed to a consent decree to settle alleged [...] Read More
Lesser-Known (But Important) Exceptions in Construction Stormwater Discharge Permitting
Published Date: February 15, 2024
Most contractors know generally that if their construction work will disturb one acre or more of earth, they may need to obtain coverage under the applicable construction stormwater discharge general permit (“CGP”). However, there are some instances where doesn’t hold true, as well as instances where CGP coverage is required even though the contractor’s work on site disturbs less than [...] Read More
Contractors and Owners Will Have an Easier Time Identifying Regulated Wetlands Following Recent U.S. Supreme Court Opinion
Published Date: May 30, 2023
Contractors appreciate how difficult it often is on a technical level to perform work in or near wetlands or other environmentally sensitive areas. Such work is even more difficult due to the complex, and ever-changing regulations issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) under the Clean Water Act (“CWA”). The CWA applies to “navigable waters”, which are defined [...] Read More
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Clean Water Act Permits May Be Required When Point Source Pollution Is Discharged Into Groundwater
Published Date: April 30, 2020
The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued an opinion in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund that further expands upon its opinions under the Clean Water Act. This time, the Court addressed the issue of whether the Clean Water Act requires a permit when pollutants originate from a point source but are conveyed to navigable waters by groundwater. Point sources [...] Read More
U.S. EPA Clarifies Temporary Enforcement Policy in the Face of Inspector General Report Showing Drop in Enforcement
Published Date: April 15, 2020
In our previous blog post, we advised that companies with federal environmental obligations should review the applicability of U.S. EPA’s temporary enforcement policy, entitled “COVID-19 Implications for EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Program.” In that document, U.S. EPA stated that it does not expect to seek civil penalties for violations of routine compliance monitoring, integrity testing, sampling, laboratory analysis, and [...] Read More
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