San Francisco Ruling Creates Broad Uncertainties for NPDES Permittees

Environment attorney Jeff Porter was interviewed by Inside EPA about a U.S Supreme Court decision narrowing the scope of regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA). In San Francisco v. EPA, the court found the CWA does not authorize the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to include certain narrative permit conditions in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. Mr. Porter summarized the ruling as telling the EPA "if you don't have the information you need to do what the statute requires – get the information" or otherwise refuse to issue a permit. He said this directive could make the already-lengthy process for writing permits take even longer, as sometimes years pass between EPA reviews of new discharges. He added that the Trump Administration's focus on cutting staff and trimming resources could also lengthen the permitting process and hinder agency efforts to comply with the court's decision.

"[T]he real question, the ultimate question post-San Francisco is, what happens in the face of that statement of the law by the Supreme Court that EPA has to follow in a world where Congress and the president might not provide EPA the resources that they would need to do that which the Supreme Court says the Clean Water Act demands?" he explained.

READ: San Francisco Ruling Creates Broad Uncertainties for NPDES Permittees (Subscription required)