In early March, Democrats Dan Kildee (D-MI) and Senator Michael Bennett (D-CO) reintroduced their “Financing Lead Out of Water (FLOW) Act,” which would amend the Federal Tax Code to allow public water systems to pay for replacement of privately owned Lead Service Lines (LSL) with tax-exempt bonds. Currently, in order to qualify for tax exempt bonds, water system replacement efforts by large municipalities must pass the IRS’ “private business use test” to access tax-exempt bonds. Under the test, municipalities must certify that the funds will not be used to benefit private business above a certain threshold. The FLOW Act would… Read more

On March 8th, the EPA proposed an Effluent Limitation Guidance (ELG) rule designed to meet a “zero discharge” goal for the steam electric power generating point source category. The proposal includes requirements for advanced membrane treatment technology which the EPA believes is necessary to meet the CWA’s definition of “best available technology” required by the ELG. ELGs are technology based treatment mandates that the EPA adopts to represent the greatest pollution reductions an industry can achieve through economically feasible methods. The EPA’s proposed rule will also set tighter discharge standards for flue-gas desulphurization wastewater, bottom ash transport water, and combustion… Read more

On February 22, the U.S. Attorneys’ Office issued a new, voluntary self-disclosure policy encouraging companies to reveal potentially criminal conduct for environmental crimes. For qualifying self‑disclosures, the policy can result in significant penalty reductions, and is intended to incentivize corporate compliance programs capable of identifying misconduct, and encouraging companies to rapidly address the underlying noncompliance. Under the policy, a company is considered to have made a voluntary disclosure if it becomes aware of misconduct and publicly reports the misconduct to the DOJ in a timely fashion prior to an eminent threat of disclosure. Companies that make qualified, voluntary disclosures may… Read more

The U.S. EPA released a controversial new rule defining regulated “waters of the United States” on January 18, 2023. The Publication began the 60-day clock for critics to challenge the rule in Federal Court. The new Rule is expected to closely track the pre-publication version that was released by the PEA on December 30. Under the proposed rule, the EPA and the Corps will be directed to apply WOTUS Standards developed prior to 2015 and the controversial WOTUS definition issued by the Obama Administration. The new Rule attempts to reconcile the narrow “continuous surface connection” between “relatively permanent” waters, and… Read more