ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20028
No(s). 23-753 (U.S. Mar 4, 2025)

The U.S. Supreme Court held, 5-4, that the CWA does not authorize EPA to include "end-result" provisions in NPDES permits, in a lawsuit concerning the Agency's issuance of a renewal permit for the city of San Francisco that added two such requirements. The city petitioned for review, arguing the requirements, which prohibited one of its treatment facilities from making any discharge that contributed to a violation of any applicable water quality standard for receiving waters and provided that the city could not perform any treatment or make any discharge that created pollution, contamination, or nuisance as defined in the California Water Code, exceeded EPA's statutory authority. The Ninth Circuit denied the petition, holding that CWA §1311(b)(1)(C) authorized EPA to impose "limitations ensuring applicable water quality standards are satisfied in a receiving body of water." The Supreme Court held that the text, structure, and purpose of §1311(b)(1)(C) did not authorize permit requirements conditioning compliance on receiving water quality, and that resorting to such requirements was not necessary to protect water quality. It reversed the Ninth Circuit's denial and remanded for further proceedings. Alito, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C.J., and Thomas and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined, in which Gorsuch, J., joined as to all but Part II, and in which Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, and Jackson, JJ., joined as to Part II. Barrett, J., filed an opinion dissenting in part, in which Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, JJ., joined.