Great Lakes Law

Federal district court rejects EPA rule exempting water transfers from Clean Water Act regulation

The following student post is by Collin Gannon (B.A., University of Pittsburgh; J.D., University of Michigan Law School, expected 2015). While in law school, Collin has worked at the Utton Transboundary Resources Center and the New Mexico Supreme Court. A federal district court in New York has vacated and remanded EPA’s controversial “Water Transfers Rule.” In Catskill Mountains Chapter of Trout Unlimited v. EPA (“Catskills II”) (S.D.N.Y., Mar. 28, 2014), Judge Kenneth Karas rejected the... Read more →

Addressing the Great Lakes Prescription Drug Problem

The following student post is by Karinne Marcolini (B.A., Michigan State University; J.D., Wayne State University Law School, expected 2015). While in law school, Karinne has worked at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and the Crisis Centre in Nassau, Bahamas. Prescription drug pollution in surface and groundwater is a growing economic and health concern. A recent study, Protecting the Great Lakes from Pharmaceutical Pollution, demonstrated that prescription drug pollution was... Read more →

Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” litigation sets new precedent for compelling EPA action to address nutrient pollution

Environmental groups have won a significant legal victory to compel the U.S. EPA to take action in response to the Gulf of Mexico “dead zone,” caused by nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the Mississippi River. In Gulf Restoration Network v. Jackson, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana held that the EPA must make a “necessity determination” regarding water quality standards under the Clean Water Act in response to a petition for... Read more →

Federal court rejects National Wildlife Federation’s challenge to EPA Vessel General Permit regulating ballast water discharges

In 2012, the US EPA proposed a Vessel General Permit to regulate ballast water discharges pursuant to the Clean Water Act. Ballast water from other regions is a significant source of invasive species in the Great Lakes. Numerous environmental organizations commented on the permit proposal, generally criticizing it for using too weak a standard, exempting a large category of vessels, and not requiring compliance for several years (see this prior post). After the EPA finalized... Read more →

Deferring to EPA’s interpretation of its own rules, Supreme Court holds that logging road runoff pollution is exempt from Clean Water Act regulation

In Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center, the Supreme Court ruled 7-1 (Justice Breyer did not participate) that EPA’s interpretation of its own rules exempting channelized logging road runoff pollution from Clean Water Act regulation was reasonable. While the opinion authored by Justice Kennedy is a setback for environmental advocates concerned with runoff pollution from timber harvesting, there are some silver linings. First, the Court cleared away a potential hurdle for citizen enforcement of the... Read more →

Supreme Court strikes down EPA’s ban on “pre-enforcement review” under the Clean Water Act

In a unanimous opinion released last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the EPA’s ban on “pre-enforcement review” under the Clean Water Act. The decision in Sackett v. EPA, authored by Justice Scalia, holds that the EPA’s administrative compliance orders are “final” for purposes of judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act and that nothing in the Clean Water Act bars a party from filing suit to challenge the order before EPA initiates a judicial... Read more →

EPA ballast water proposal fails to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species – guest post by Nick Schroeck

The US EPA has proposed a Vessel General Permit to address ballast water discharges, a significant source of invasive species in the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Environmental Law Center and other conservation organizations filed formal comments last week criticizing the EPA’s proposal as inadequate to prevent the introduction and spread of invasive species in the region. Executive Director Nick Schroeck provides some insight on the issue in this guest post (with special thanks to... Read more →

Michigan Supreme Court will decide if townships are responsible for building sewer systems to control water pollution

The following guest post is by Nick Schroeck, Executive Director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center and director of Wayne Law’s Transnational Environmental Law Clinic. On Wednesday November 9, 2011 the Michigan Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case Michigan Department of Environmental Quality v. Township of Worth (S. Ct. Docket No. 141810). Worth Township is located in a picturesque region of Michigan on the shore of Lake Huron. A popular vacation... Read more →

Book review - Burning Rivers: Revival of Four Urban-Industrial Rivers that Caught on Fire, by Dr. John Hartig

Remember when rivers catching fire symbolized environmental degradation? I don’t - I was born in 1974, and my generation saw environmental values debated through Styrofoam cups and the spotted owl (rather lame symbols in comparison to a burning river). But the stories of rivers burning became a legendary chapter in the making of environmental law and the growth of political environmentalism. Yet I never understood the complexity of the problem, and the tremendous success in... Read more →

Alternative Strategies for managing pharmaceutical and personal care products in water resources – Guest Post by Gabriel Eckstein

The following guest post is by Gabriel Eckstein, a professor of law at Texas Wesleyan University. Prof. Eckstein is also the Director of the International Water Law Project and a Senior Fellow with the Texas Tech Center for Water Law & Policy. He and George William Sherk recently published an EPA-funded study entitled “Alternative Strategies for Managing Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in Water Resources.” The study is available on the Micropollutants Clearinghouse website, a... Read more →