Court Upholds Trump Era Clean Water Act Rules - For Now

9th Circuit Courthouse, 7th and Mission Streets, San Francisco.

While Friends of the River and colleagues’ California Clean Water Act cases head to the U.S. Supreme Court (see last month’s River Advocate), President Trump’s EPA’s Clean Water Act rules have been reinstated [In re Clean Water Act Rulemaking, No. 21-16958 2023 WL 2129631 (9th Cir. Feb. 21, 2023)] for now by the federal 9th Circuit Appeals Court, having been thrown out by a federal District Court judge from the Northern District of California, until a trial on the merits [In re Clean Water Act Rulemaking, 568 F. Supp.3d 1013 (N.D. Cal 2021)].

Adopted rules provide procedures for the administration of laws by government agencies. Trump’s rules stretched the statutory language beyond recognition and stripped the states and participating Indian tribes of their authority to keep many federal actions from violating state water quality.

President Biden’s EPA is likely to issue revised rules that roll back some of Trump’s rules late this Spring, mitigating the effect of leaving the ruling in place. Unfortunately, these rules are likely to be challenged by water agencies before a friendly federal district court judge. In contrast, the fate of applications for Clean Water Act water quality certifications made under the Trump rules may be decided when the federal Northern District of California court concludes a trial on the merits of the challenge to the Trump rules brought by environmental groups represented by the Western Environmental Law Center.

It may take a while before the dust settles on this one.

See also: Fishing, recreation advocates topple Trump-era Clean Water Act federal power grab and Court refuses to halt Trump-era rule