News EPA/Army Release Proposal Revising NWPR/WOTUS The EPA and Department of Army announced the signing of a proposed rule to revise the definition of “waters of the United States.” The agencies propose to put back into place the pre-2015 definition of “waters of the United States,” updated to reflect consideration of Supreme Court decisions. This… Read More »
News and Updates
ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 40 (Week of November 8, 2021)
News Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Passes Congress Congress passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, with a final vote of 228-206. The legislation passed the Senate in August but was stalled in the House as Democrats tried to negotiate a deal on a separate $1.9 trillion economic package. The BID invests more than $50 billion through… Read More »
ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 39 (Week of November 1, 2021)
News Agencies Extend WOTUS Stakeholder Nomination Period On October 13, 2021, EPA and the Army (the agencies) announced a process for stakeholders to nominate a slate of participants to potentially be selected as one of ten geographically focused roundtables. These regional roundtables will be hosted by EPA and the Army and will enable stakeholders with… Read More »
ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 38 (Week of October 25, 2021)
New 2020 Water Quality Certification Rule Vacated A federal district court issued a ruling In re: Clean Water Act Rulemaking late last week vacating the Sec. 401 Water Quality Certification rule. This is the third challenge to the Sec. 401 rule that found the 2020 rule arbitrary and capricious and the first that vacated the… Read More »
ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 37 (Week of October 18, 2021)
News External Civil Rights Compliance Office (ECRCO) Call Scheduled ECRCO, which resides inside EPA’s Office of General Counsel, is responsible for enforcing several civil rights laws which prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age and retaliation by those that seek or receive federal funding from EPA. As noted by… Read More »
ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 36 (Week of October 4, 2021)
News State Associations Urge Congress to Robustly Fund Sec. 106 ACWA, along with ECOS, WSWC and ASDWA, sent a letter to Congressional leaders reminding them that in order to successfully implement the goals of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, state environmental programs need increased resources to administer their programs and support new infrastructure investments.… Read More »
ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 35 (Week of September 27, 2021)
News EPA Draft FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan The EPA published a Federal Register notice announcing the availability of the Draft FY 2022-2026 Strategic Plan for review and comment. The Strategic Plan includes seven strategic goals focused on protecting human health and the environment and four cross-agency strategies that describe the essential ways EPA will work… Read More »
ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 34 (Week of September 20, 2021)
News EPW Approves EPA General Counsel Nominee The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved Jeffrey Prieto by a 12-8 vote. The nomination will now move to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. Most recently, Prieto served as General Counsel at the Los Angles Community College District. Prior to that position, Prieto served as… Read More »
ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 33 (Week of September 13, 2021)
News EPA Rescinds Maui Guidance On September 15, 2021, EPA formally rescinded the January 2021 Maui Guidance document titled “Applying the Supreme Court’s County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Decision in the Clean Water Act Section 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit Program.” A copy of the decision can be found here. The… Read More »
ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 32 (Week of August 30, 2021)
News EPA Publishes Draft Method 1633 for 40 PFAS On September 2, EPA in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense published a draft of the first EPA-validated laboratory analytical method to test for 40 PFAS analytes in eight different environmental media. The single-laboratory validated Draft Method 1633 – Analysis of PFAS in Aqueous, Solid,… Read More »
ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 31 (Week of August 23, 2021)
News 2016 Selenium Criterion Document Revised This week, EPA is posting a 2021 Revised Selenium criterion document that corrects a footnote in the 2016 Aquatic Life Criterion for Selenium in Freshwater to clarify conditions under which the water column value supersedes the fish tissue value. EPA intended footnote 4 specifically to apply to situations with… Read More »
ACWA Weekly Wrap Vol. XII, Issue 30 (Week of August 16, 2021)
News EPA/Army Corps Extends Federalism Consultation Comment Period The EPA and the U.S. Department of the Army (the agencies) have initiated a federalism consultation for a rulemaking that restores the WOTUS regulations in place prior to the 2015 Clean Water Rule, with updates to be consistent with relevant Supreme Court decisions. The agencies announced this… Read More »
