Clean Water Act

Sherwood Boehlert's position is that the environmentalists are too extreme in their views and goals, but that the opposing libertarians are also unrealistic in their belief in state's rights and deregulation.

This article briefly describes what was at stake in the case of Exxon Shipping Co. v. Grant Baker.

Although statistics are hard to come by, most [environmental] citizen suits appear to be filed under the Clean Water Act and the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA).

The bill targets the very heart of the Clean Water Act: the notion that a federal backstop is needed to ensure that states don't give a pass to polluters.

The 'polluter pays' rhetoric is still often used, and most Americans probably think that current environmental policies make polluters pay. In truth, however, this approach is seldom embodied in American environmental laws.

Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act’s reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators.

This article addresses the decisions made by the Supreme Court in Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. United States that placed limitations on the scope of the Clean Water Act.

Before passage of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the right to pollute water was determined primarily by state common law rules of nuisance and of water rights. The common law rules were strict.

With Earth Day about a month away, Americans tell Gallup they worry the most about several water-related risks and issues among nine major environmental issues. They worry least about global warming and loss of open spaces.

The Clean Water Act (CWA), 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251-1387, has its origins in a series of Federal acts aimed at preventing the discharge of pollutants into the nation’s waters (see Figure One).

Total U.S. lake acreage estimate based on 2004 State Integrated Reports.

This report presents a summary of the law, describing the essence of the statute without discussing its implementation.

This paper revisits the fable – or rather fables – of the Cuyahoga and their implications for environmental law.

This article examines how the CWA (i.e. the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers) have overstepped the bounds of the legislation.

This study assesses the overall effectiveness of the Clean Water Act. It also gives a good account of the history of water pollution control from the federal level.

In 1989, developer John Rapanos deposited dirt onto a portion of his property near Midland, MI. This was illegal, according to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, as Rapanos’ property contained federally designated wetlands....

The Article concludes that courts should interpret the Act to include any non-navigable waters, wetlands, or tributaries that possess a significant hydrological nexus with navigable waters.

This video gives a brief history of the beginnings of EPA, the regulatory measures it enacted, and President Nixon's dislike of the new environmental bureaucracy.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson testifies that Clean Water Act enforcement is compromised by the confusion over which waters are protected under the Act.

[T]housands of the largest water polluters in the United States are outside the Clean Water Acts reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America and in furtherance of the purposes of the Clean Water Act of 1972....

Cornell University Law School's site features the United States Code collection. This link will take you to the specific legislation enacting the Clean Water Act in Chapter 26 of Title 33.

In this case, regarding the spill of the Exxon Valdez supertanker off the coast of Alaska, the court ruled that the size of punitive damages exacted upon the injuring party should be directly proportional to compensatory damages paid.

On October 18, 2002, our Nation marks the 30th anniversary of the Clean Water Act and begins the Observance of the Year of Clean Water.

The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the United States. (The Act does not deal directly with ground water nor with water quantity issues.)

The second bill we will sign today will enhance the quality of life for every American-the Clean Water Restoration Act will give us the power to rescue the once clear waters of our streams and our rivers and our lakes from the growing menace of pollution.

This Supreme Court case of 2006 dealt with the case of John Rapanos, who backfilled his own property, parts of which held "sometimes-saturated soil conditions," but were also eleven to twenty miles away from the nearest "navigable water."

The pollution of our rivers, lakes and streams degrades the quality of American life. Cleaning up the Nation's waterways is a matter of urgent concern to me, as evidenced by the nearly tenfold increase in my budget for this purpose during the past four years.

This bill sought to expand EPA jurisdiction over American waters after the Supreme Court ruled that their reach was too expansive. The bill failed to become law.

This Supreme Court ruling worked to curtail the scope of the Army Corps of Engineers ability to regulate certain isolated and unconnected bodies of water....

Cutting Green Tape rethinks the nature and impact of the United States' environmental bureaucracy.

Rich Trzupek explains why Obama’s EPA is different and more dangerous than any other since the agency was created.

This book boldly confronts specific environmental laws, asking whether they were motivated by environmental concerns, whether they achieve their goals, whether they are cost-effective - and ... whether they ... generate perverse results.

This volume explores the issues associated with the complex subject of water quality protection in an assessment of the successes and failures of the Clean Water Act over the past twenty years.

The Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program is becoming a fact of life for many industries, the EPA, and state and local agencies. Make sure that you know all there is to know about the TMDL requirements of clean water legislation!

Changing the water paradigm – this is the vision of the Clean Water America Alliance.