On February 7, 2022, Sierra Club, et al. filed a Notice of Intent to File Suit (“NOI”) over the Unites States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“USEPA”) supposed failure to perform its duties under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) to timely “make statutory completeness determinations and findings of failure to submit Regional Haze
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Will the Sackett Test Clarify the Reach of Clean Water Act Jurisdiction?
By Chris Colyer
“Sackett” may be poised to become a part of the Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdictional lexicon, joining the likes of Rapanos, significant nexus, relatively permanent, and Solid Waste Agency of Cook County, on the tip of every Clean Water Act practitioner’s tongue. In a surprise move, the Supreme Court of the…
So, What Exactly Is A Water Of The U.S.?
By Chris Colyer
The federal Clean Water Act created federal jurisdiction over “navigable waters” defined as “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). Since becoming law in 1972, debate over what is, and is not, WOTUS has been robust.
The Supreme Court’s 2006 decision in Rapanos v. U.S. epitomized the challenges in finding consensus on…
Supreme Court Grants Cert On GHG Regulation Of Power Plants
By Chris Colyer
On January 19, 2021, the last full day of President Trump’s tenure at the White House, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals essentially said “good riddance” to Trump’s “ACE” (the Affordable Clean Energy Rule) in American Lung Association v. EPA, No. 19-1140 (D.C. Cir. 2021). More to the point, the…
From Worse to Bad: New draft of “Build Back Better” Legislation Reduces But Doesn’t Eliminate New Financial Burdens on Hardrock Miners Operating on Federal Land
By Chris Colyer
Everyone has heard a bad joke where the setup for the punchline is “well, it coulda been worse”. Hardrock mining companies operating on federal public lands presumably didn’t feel like laughing when the House Natural Resources Committee released its committee print for President Biden’s proposed “Build Back Better” (BBB) legislation in…
Arizona-Based Airline Enters Delivery Drone Space
By Chris Colyer
On October 21, 2021, Phoenix, Arizona-based Mesa Air and Reno, NV-based Flirtey announced an agreement under which Mesa will purchase four delivery drones with options to purchase an additional 500 over the next four years in an effort to expand drone delivery service in the U.S.
Initially, Mesa and Flirtey…
Rare Rulemaking Initiated by Arizona Department of Water Resources
By Chris Colyer
The Arizona Department of Water Resources (“ADWR”) announced on September 18, 2021 that it had initiated a rulemaking for three subject areas: licensing timeframes, well construction and licensing, and dam safety. Overall, the proposed changes are mostly non-substantive in nature; however, new additions to ADWR’s licensing timeframes (“LTFs”) are welcome changes for…
What Will EPA Do with Its New Superfund Money?
By Chris Colyer
The Senate’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed Aug. 10, contains a provision that would bring back an excise tax that expired in 1995 on a lengthy list of raw chemicals. House Democrats also want it to cover crude oil.
In addition to this new tax stream, the House has already approved…
Reclamation Declares Tier 1 Shortage on Colorado River for 2022
By Chris Colyer
by Fred Breedlove
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (“Reclamation”) published its August 2021 24-Month Study on Monday, effectively declaring a shortage on the Colorado River for the Lower Colorado River Basin. The August study predicts that the elevation of Lake Mead at Hoover Dam will continue to be below 1,075 feet (the level that triggers…
Bipartisan Infrastructure Package Passes the Senate
By Chris Colyer
by Amanda A. Reeve
Arizona’s Senior U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema is credited as being instrumental in negotiating the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package, H.R. 3684, entitled “Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America Act (“INVEST in America Act”), as amended, that passed with bipartisan support (69-30) in…