WHEN THE 'PLAIN TEXT' ISN'T SO PLAIN: HOW NATIONAL PORK PRODUCERS COUNCIL RESTRICTS THE CLEAN WATER ACT'S PURPOSE AND IMPAIRS ITS ENFORCEMENT AGAINST FACTORY FARMS

摘要

Any court charged with defining the scope of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) authority to enforce the Clean Water Act (CWA) should do so in light of the Act's ultimate purpose: to "restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters." In fact, the United States Supreme Court held that clear congressional intent can trump otherwise accepted rules of statutory interpretation that would lead to an absurd result: the frustration of congressional intent. So much is certain in statutory construction: if a possible statutory construction would frustrate the purpose of the statute according to its own terms, one should go back to the drawing board. This article evaluates the legal reasoning of a recentdecision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in right of its impact on achieving the overriding objectives of the CWA: National Pork Producers Council v. EPA, decided in March 2011.