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Eastern Water Law & Policy Reporter

April 2021

Volume 16, Number 3 April 2021

WATER NEWS

New Research Study Attempts to Quantify the Cost of Flood Risk in the United States—For the Individual Homeowner49

News from the West50

PENALTIES AND SANCTIONS

Recent Investigations, Settlements, Penalties and Sanctions56

LAWSUITS FILED OR PENDING

U.S. District Court Pushes Federal Government for Schedule on Completing Endangered Species Act Review on the Yuba River63

U.S. EPA Dismisses Its Appeal of the District Court’s More Narrow Jurisdictional Delineation of Salt Ponds64

JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS

Federal:

U.S. Supreme Court Finds FOIA’s Deliberative Process Exemption Protected Draft Biological Opinions from Public Disclosure67

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service v. Sierra Club, 592 U.S.___, 141 S.Ct. 777 (Mar. 4, 2021).

Fifth Circuit Addresses Diversity Jurisdiction Where Landowner Sued Petroleum Company under State Conservation Laws over Legacy Site Contamination68

Grace Ranch, L.L.C. v. BP America Production Company, ___F.3d___, Case No. 20-30224 (5th Cir. Feb. 26, 2021).

District Court Rules EPA Must Determine Whether a Clean Water Act Discharge ‘May Affect’ Water Quality in Another State71

Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa v. Wheeler, ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 19-CV-2489 (D. Minn. Feb. 16, 2021).

District Court Allows Clean Water Act Citizens Suit to Proceed Despite Previous Settlement with State Agency over the Same Violations72

Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper and the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association v. Keystone Protein Company, ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 1:19-cv-01307 (M.D. Pa. Feb. 18, 2021).

State:

Minnesota Enters into the Regulation of Groundwater via NPDES Permitting74

In re Reissuance of an NPDES/SDS Permit to United States Steel Corp., 954 N.W.2d 572 (Minn. Feb. 10, 2021).