United States: Waste Management

In life, only three things are certain: death, taxes and ever-changing administration of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). In the following pages, we provide an overview of actions taken under President Trump’s second administration since our last WOTUS update and describe what project proponents might expect in the coming months and years.

Satellite, drone, and other remote-sensing technologies are making methane emissions at landfills increasingly visible to regulators and the public. States like California, Colorado, and Oregon are incorporating these monitoring technologies into their regulatory frameworks, creating new compliance obligations and risk-management considerations. This shift may affect landfill operators through increased regulatory scrutiny, public emissions reporting, and potential legal exposure.

In the last days of the Biden administration in January 2025, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its Draft Risk Assessment for Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonic...

Microplastics and nanoplastics are gaining increasing attention among the scientific and regulatory community, and plaintiffs and Attorneys General are taking note.

Should developers of large-scale commercial projects like data centers be required to post financial security for future decommissioning costs?

The EPA's withdrawal of its 2024 proposed rule raises critical questions about the scope of corrective action authority at hazardous waste facilities and the regulatory treatment of emerging contaminants like PFAS.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has published the draft Sixth Contaminant Candidate List, introducing microplastics and pharmaceuticals as priority contaminant groups for the first time in drinking water regulation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on March 5, 2026, published the Paper Manifest Sunset Rule as a proposed rule in the Federal Register, proposing to amend the hazardous waste manifest regulations under 40 C.F.R. Parts 260 through 267 and Part 761 ...

While California has dominated headlines in the climate disclosure space, New York is quietly constructing a regulatory architecture that moves...