MJB&A Summary of 316(b) Cooling Water Intake Decision

On July 23, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit dismissed all challenges from several environmental and industry petitioners on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule pursuant to section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Overall, the three-judge panel concluded that the final rule and the related biological opinion were based on EPA’s reasonable interpretations of the applicable statues and were sufficiently supported by the factual record. This document summarizes key aspects of the Court’s opinion.