Biggest Energy & Environmental Court Decisions of 2025

Environment attorney Jeff Porter was quoted in a Law360 year-in-review article on the biggest energy and environmental decisions of 2025, focusing in part on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that narrowed how the Clean Water Act can be implemented through discharge permits. He explained that the court sided with concerns that certain permit terms were too vague to enforce, rejecting some nonquantifiable water quality standards and emphasizing the due process implications for permittees facing significant penalties. Mr. Porter noted that the decision will force regulators to be transparent about exactly which standards apply and what conditions are required to meet them – an approach that could reshape how permits are drafted and enforced going forward, even if it creates new administrative burdens for agencies.

"EPA and the states are now clearly required to identify the technology and water quality standards to be met by any permittee, as well as the permit conditions necessary for any discharge permit to meet those standards," he said. "It isn't clear whether and when EPA and the states will have the will and the way to do that."

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