By Maha Joana Cziesielski On November 6th the Supreme Court of the United States held a hearing for the case County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund. The arguments pertained to the question on whether the Clean Water Act requires a permit for the discharge of pollutants when the pollutant has traveled from a point source and through groundwater into navigable waters (see Cziesielski, 2019 for a summary of the …

Supreme Court questions role of groundwater connectivity in point source pollution Read More »

By Maha Joana Cziesielski   The County of Maui is being taken to the Supreme Court by a number of advocacy groups, led by the Hawaii Wildlife Fund, after a study showed that wastewater from the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility injected into groundwater could be traced into the Pacific ocean. The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of pollutants from a point source into navigable waters, unless an authorized National Pollutant Discharge …

An Overview of the upcoming Supreme Court case: County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund Read More »

By Brittany Schieler Quick overview: The EPA proposed changes to implementation of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2019-0405) which will significantly restrict a state or tribe’s authority in certifying infrastructure projects that will impact its waters and watershed habitat.  On August 8th the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed changes to implementation of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which were officially entered into the Federal Register on August 22, 2019 (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2019-0405). Section 401 requires state (or tribal) water quality certification for federal permits on infrastructure projects that, “may …

Policy Alert: EPA Proposes New Rules to Implement Clean Water Act’s State Water Quality Certification Program Read More »

By Brittany Schieler One of the reasons I came to D.C. after graduation was to step out of the research bubble and get some first-hand exposure to how science and data are used to solve problems and shape policy. I felt this was important to my career because no matter how narrow and focused our science question is, science is never done in a vacuum. How and what we do …

A Taste of Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2019 Read More »

By Brittany Schieler Thesis proposal? Check. A carefully crafted list of courses? Check. Peer-reviewed articles and conference attendance? Check, check. I had hit all of the important educational and professional benchmarks typically required in a science Ph.D. program. But what about a visit to my congressman’s office on Capitol Hill? Preparation of a “one-pager” and a clear list of my “asks”? This was some of the unique training I received …

Student Meets Capitol Hill: A Case for Policy Training in Graduate Education Read More »