Law Commons^™

A Clean Water Act, If You Can Keep It, Sean G. Herman

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

The Clean Water Act has traveled a successful but tortuous path. From combustible beginnings on the Cuyahoga River; through the Lake St. Clair wetlands; to reservoirs near the Miccosukee; and eventually discharged (or “functionally” discharged) off the Maui coast. With each bend, the nearly fifty-year-old Act has proven to be not just resilient, but among our most successful environmental laws. Much of that success stems from an effective enforcement structure that focuses more on treating pollutant sources rather than just impaired waters. The text creating that structure has largely remained untouched by Congress for decades.

This article begins by posing …

Safeguarding Water Quality In Federal Licensing Decisions: California’S Response To Recent Constraints On Clean Water Act Section 401 Certification Authority, Kristin Peer, Stacy Gillespie

Golden Gate University Environmental Law Journal

Pursuant to Clean Water Act section 401, state water quality certification authority to regulate federally-licensed energy projects has been relatively well settled for decades. Long-standing precedents from the U.S. Supreme Court, other federal courts, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“U.S. EPA”), and implementation of certification authority by the states, have repeatedly reinforced the cooperative federalism principle of the Clean Water Act: state section 401 certification authority is essential to preserve the states’ ability to address a wide range of pollution problems caused by federally-permitted energy facilities. In recent years, however, state section 401 certification authority has come under siege in …