US Supreme Court to Hear San Francisco’s Challenge to EPA Water Regulation

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on Oct. 16 over whether the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exceeded its authority in its approach to regulating water pollution.

San Francisco is arguing that the EPA is exposing it to an unfair risk of penalties by not specifying how much material its wastewater treatment facilities can discharge into the ocean. By setting more generic standards, their petition to the court adds, the agency has also failed to follow the Clean Water Act (CWA), which is the basis for the EPA’s authority in this area.

“EPA can bring lawsuits seeking civil penalties over $66,000 per day for each permit violation, as well as injunctive relief,” their petition read. It added that “[f]or municipalities, the costs of injunctive relief in CWA enforcement cases often run into the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars.”

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