Supreme Court Weighs CWA Groundwater Fight As New Legal Tests Grow

摘要

A Hawaii county has filed the first petition for Supreme Court review of an appellate decision that subjects groundwater pollution to Clean Water Act (CWA) limits, arguing the ruling breaks with high court precedent - while environmentalists file a series of new legal challenges that also test the CWA's reach over groundwater. The Maui County's Aug. 27 certiorari petition marks the first request for the justices to decide whether the water law limits pollution that enters surface waters through groundwater, despite not addressing sub-surface releases directly. It therefore creates the first chance for a nationwide ruling that would help resolve a host of pending cases on the contested issue, including a pair of suits filed Aug. 24 in Massachusetts. Relevant documents are available on fnsideEPA.com. (Doc. ID: 214700) Specifically, the county is hoping to overturn the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit's decision in Hawai 7 Wildlife Fund, et al., v. County of Maui, where a unanimous three-judge panel said the county violated the CWA by injecting municipal wastewater into a groundwater channel that flows into the Pacific Ocean.