Stormwater

U.S. EPA recently entered into a settlement agreement with public interest groups regarding stormwater permitting requirements that will likely have significant consequences to industrial stormwater dischargers throughout the U.S. 

In …
Continue Reading U.S. EPA Settles Public Interest Groups’ Challenge to Industrial Stormwater Multi-Sector General Permit

In a long-running controversy over nutrient standards for Florida waterways, five environmental groups filed a notice of appeal yesterday in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit…
Continue Reading Environmental Groups Appeal Federal Court Order Allowing the State of Florida to Adopt Nutrient Standards For Its Waters — March 6, 2014

From Steven Russo of GT New York City and Robert Rosenthal of GT Albany.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) has issued public notice of a draft State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“SPDES”) permit for Stormwater Discharges from Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (“MS4s”) owned or operated by the City of New York (the “draft MS4 permit”).  Under existing law, DEC regulates discharges from MS4s that are located within the boundaries of a Census Bureau defined “urbanized area” or “additionally designated areas.”  DEC authorizes most MS4s to be covered under a SPDES General Permit; however, New York City MS4s are regulated through a separate general permit.  The draft MS4 permit would consolidate the MS4 sections from 10 of the 14 existing SPDES Permits that govern each of the Waste Water Treatment Plants operated by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.
Continue Reading New York State Issues Public Notice of Draft MS4 Permit for New York City

From Kyle Johnson and Jillian Bunyan of GT Philadelphia:

Pennsylvania law has not clearly set out by when a downhill landowner must sue an upland developer for storm water flooding under either tort or statutory theories.  Last week, the Commonwealth Court decided Lake v. The Hankin Group, No. 278 C.D. 2013 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2013), which offers some guidance.  In Lake, the downhill landowner, the Lakes, sued the upland developer under the Clean Streams Law, the Storm Water Management Act, and the federal Clean Water Act for damage caused to the Lakes’ property by increased storm water flow during storm events from the newly developed upland property.  At the trial level, the defendants were granted summary judgment based on the fact that they no longer possessed or controlled the upland property and thus no cause of action could exist under the Clean Streams Law.  The Lakes’ remaining claims were determined to be time-barred.Continue Reading Storm Water Flooding as a Continuing Nuisance in Pennsylvania