Washington Watch: Supreme Court Will Hear Key Clean Water Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the Clean Water Act has a role in regulating groundwater pollution. The case has the potential to gut key federal clean water protections.

Continuing a disturbing trend from recent decades, another long-established environmental protection is under assault in the federal courts, now with support from the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The case originated in Hawaii, where a sewage treatment plant was allowed to inject waste into the groundwater, some of which made its way to nearby ocean waters. The federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that the pollution fell under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act, and had to be controlled pursuant to that law’s requirements.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, whose territory includes North Carolina, has also ruled in support of Clean Water Act jurisdiction in a 2014 South Carolina case. However, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in a Kentucky case that pollution seeping from coal ash pits into groundwater was not covered by the Clean Water Act.

It’s common for the Supreme Court to take cases which will resolve a major “split” in legal interpretation from different circuit Courts of Appeal. If the Supreme Court upholds the Hawaii decision, that will be an important win for the environment. However, if the court sides with the anti-environment arguments which prevailed in the Kentucky case, it will be a disaster for clean water in cases across the nation. Those would include critical disputes in North Carolina involving matters such as coal ash pollution and GenX.

Up next, Chemours Agrees to New Terms >>

To get news like this in your inbox every Monday, please sign up for our Conservation Insider Bulletin newsletter!