DOJ Cites EPA Rulemaking To Urge High Court Rejection Of 401 Petition

摘要

The Justice Department (DOJ) is urging the Supreme Court to reject environmentalists' petition to reverse an appellate decision limiting states' ability to review Clean Water Act (CWA) section 401 water quality certification requests, pointing to EPA's ongoing rulemaking on the issue and the lack of judicial disagreement. "Even if review of the question presented were otherwise warranted, it would be premature at this time because the EPA—the agency charged with administering the Clean Water Act—is developing new regulations interpreting Section 401. The petition for a writ of certiorari should be denied," DOJ, representing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), says in an Oct. 28 brief. Environmentalists have asked the Supreme Court to review the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC, et ah, where the appellate court found that Oregon and California violated the CWA by delaying review of a water quality certification request, for a dam that is expected to be decommissioned, far beyond the law's one-year deadline to "certify" whether a federal permit meets state water quality requirements.