Legal Corner

After a week-long trial, a federal jury has awarded the City of Pomona $48 million in damages from SQM North America Corp., a subsidiary of a large Chilean mining company, for the costs of cleanup of the toxic chemical perchlorate from the city’s groundwater supply. Fertilizer sold byRead More

Water system providers across the United States have joined a multidistrict litigation (MDL) suit claiming that their water supplies are contaminated with per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF). These chemicals have been used for decades to extinguish chemical or petroleum firesRead More

By Teno A. West & Jillian Jagling A method for public water system asset preservation is a multi-pronged approach, backed by the goal of ensuring that the assets are returned to the owner in good condition, working order and repair, such that the owner isRead More

By Mike Keegan After withstanding numerous preemptive judicial challenges, the Trump administration’s version of the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) went into effect on June 22. The Trump rule circumscribed the federal regulatory power over U.S. waters compared to the 2015 Obama administration’s ruleRead More

By Katie Jones & Stephanie Biehl Flint, Michigan, is now synonymous with “water crisis.” Unfortunately, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. In communities across the country, countless other water crises are unfolding, though with different chemical contaminants and, in many cases, clear fingerprints pointing toRead More

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works R.D. James last week announced a new, clear definition for “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) with the Navigable Waters Protection Rule.  According to EPA and the Department ofRead More

By Stanley A. Millan & Elise M. Henry The battle over how to define federal waters began in the early 1970s and continues today. As a result of changing policy and legal uncertainly, it is a challenge for anyone to determine what qualifies as aRead More

By David M. Moore The U.S. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers issued the long awaited proposed waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule on Feb. 14, 2019. Settling the WOTUS question is a major priority for the Trump administration. The Proposed Rule has sweeping implications and affectsRead More

By Ryan Callender & J. Wes Kerns On Dec. 22, 2017, H.R. 1 (the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”) was signed into law. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, among other things, reduced corporate tax rates, modified individual tax rates, eliminated many deductions, repealed theRead More