High Court Urged To Prevent Administration Limiting CWA Ruling's Scope

摘要

A recycling firm is urging the Supreme Court to resolve an appellate split over whether agencies' Clean Water Act (CWA) "jurisdiction" determinations are subject to judicial review, fearing the administration might try to limit the scope of a first-time appellate ruling that granted review of the findings to the states covered by that appeals court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit's April 10 unanimous order in Hawkes Co., et al. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held that the CWA jurisdictional determinations (JDs) issued by EPA or the Army Corps of Engineers can be challenged in court even before agencies launch enforcement actions based on the findings. The decision creates a split with the 5th Circuit which issued a July 30 ruling saying that JDs are not judicially reviewable.