Supreme Court Rules Against EPA In Water Permitting Case
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote that the U.S. EPA has overstepped its authority under the Clean Water Act. According to Justice Samuel Alito, the agency does not have the authority “to include ‘end-result’ provisions” when setting specific discharge limits.
The Clean Water Act, described by the EPA as the “primary federal law governing water pollution,” has kept American water clean for decades. But this ruling could “have sweeping implications for the agency’s ability to limit offshore pollution,” according to The New York Times.
The case focused on whether the Clean Water Act gives the EPA the ability to enact prohibitions on wastewater released into the Pacific Ocean by San Francisco, and whether San Francisco can be penalized for violating those prohibitions. It came in the wake of efforts from the EPA to bar San Francisco from releasing raw sewage into the Pacific Ocean.
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