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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
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 …