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On June 2nd, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its Notice of Intent to Reconsider and Revise the Section 401 Certification Rule under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Section 401 Certification Rule was designed to give states and authorized tribes the authority to grant, deny, or waive certification of proposed federal licenses or permits that may discharge into waters of the United States if they determined that a project would have an adverse impact on their waters. In 2020, the EPA issued a revision to the Certification Rule which EPA described as establishing procedures that promote: Consistent implementation of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act; andRegulatory certainty in the federal licensing and permitting process. However, many states and tribes feel that the rule changes issued by the EPA in 2020 limit states’ authority to protect their waters because the 2020 Rule changes made it impossible for a state to block a water permit for a project for any reason other than direct…

(Written by Senior Project Manager, Anne Melia, CHMM, for Waste Advantage Magazine, June 2021) The need to evaluate potential leachate impacts to groundwater is an ever-present challenge for consultants working in landfill groundwater compliance. Developing a tool kit of methodologies to provide support in evaluating changes to groundwater chemistry is critical to provide high-quality consulting services to solid waste clients and for protection of the environment. (more…)