Endangered Species Act Law Alert The Supreme Court Decides That the Endangered Species Act Does Not Trump the Clean Water Act.On June 25, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 split decision in National Association of Home Builders v. Defenders of Wildlife, 2007 WL 1801745, that is expected to have far-reaching implications. The decision addressed the intersection of two independent statutes--the Clean Water Act (the "CWA") and the Endangered Species Act (the "ESA")--and answered the twin questions of whether the ESA constitutes a "super statute" that effectively overrides or repeals other statutes, and whether the ESA consultation requirement can be read to impose additional substantive obligations on an agency to protect listed species when such obligations are otherwise absent under the agency’s organic authority.

The case arose as a result of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (the "EPA") decision to transfer the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program under CWA section 402(b) to the state of Arizona... For more info please follow: http://www.stoel.com/alerts/ESA2_June2007.html

Brownfields Tax Incentive Extended and Expanded. On December 20, 2006, President Bush signed the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 that included an extension and expansion of the Brownfields Tax Incentive. The incentive was renewed, effective after December 31, 2005, and extended until December 31, 2007. The Brownfields Tax Incentive allows environmental cleanup costs to be... For more info please follow link to EPA's website: Brownfields Cleanup and Redevelopment