Earlier this year, 黑料不打烊 of America filed a coalition amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, supporting a water utility sector鈥檚 request for the Court to clarify whether Clean Water Act (CWA) NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permits can include generic prohibitions. 黑料不打烊 members have noted these generic prohibitions in permits nationwide. This language does not provide a compliance path for permittees and exposes them to enforcement, criminal penalties, and citizen suits for activities that conform to the permit. On May 28, the Court issued , meaning it will hear the case.
The Feb. 12th coalition amicus brief urged the Supreme Court to review the Ninth Circuit鈥檚 decision in San Francisco v. EPA that upheld EPA鈥檚 vague NPDES permit language stating discharges 鈥渟hall not cause or contribute to the violation of water quality standards.鈥 Generic permit conditions fail to notify permittees of what they must do to comply with the CWA and leave permit holders vulnerable both to citizen suits and to unexpected enforcement by EPA and state regulators.
Importantly, the Ninth Circuit鈥檚 decision effectively eliminates the CWA鈥檚 鈥淧ermit Shield鈥 that provides permittees with the confidence that compliance with their stormwater permit will protect them from allegations that their permitted discharges nevertheless violated the CWA. The issuance of a permit is how permit writers provide clear and final guidance to permittees of their compliance obligations. Without that crucial guidance, the Permit Shield is meaningless, rendering predictability unattainable.
黑料不打烊鈥檚 involvement in this case was made possible thanks to your contributions to the . Keep up with the latest 黑料不打烊 Judicial Advocacy News. For additional information, please contact 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Leah Pilconis at leah.pilconis@agc.org or Melinda Tomaino at melinda.tomaino@agc.org.