Citizen Suits Under the Clean Water Act

This exercise provides a comprehensive review of federal environmental citizen suits, focusing on the citizen suit provision of the Clean Water Act. The student is presented with a series of hypothetical violations of the Clean Water Act and is asked questions regarding whether judicial review is available under the citizen suit provision of the Act for those violations, the jurisdictional or procedural limits that are placed on review, and limits on the type of relief that is available.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to:

1. Discuss when a citizen may commence a civil action under the Clean Water Act..
2. Explain the Clean Water Act provision that includes a limited waiver of sovereign immunity that authorizes certain suits against the United States and its agencies for injunctive or declaratory relief.
3. Analyze situations that will preclude the commencement of a citizen suit for civil penalties under Section 505 of the Clean Water Act.