It is not often that the Supreme Court takes on significant environmental cases – and in this instance – two significant decisions were issued by the Court within a month of each other.
For overviews and key takeaways of these two environmental law decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court – Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian
Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) provides states and tribes with a mechanism by which they may address the impacts of federally issued permits and licenses, such as dredge and fill permits issued under CWA § 404 and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits under § 402. Pursuant to § 401, a federal agency cannot issue a permit or license for an activity that may result in a discharge to a water of the U.S. unless the state (where the discharge would occur) grants or waives the request for a Water Quality Certification (“WQC”). Under the CWA, states have a maximum of one year to act on WQC requests. Applicable U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“USACE”) regulations at 33 CFR § 325.2, however, set a default time period of 60 days to act on such requests.
Continue Reading Major Acceleration in Time Frame to Act on Water Quality Certification Requests