ELR Citation: ELR 20220
No(s). 04-1228 (10th Cir. Nov 2, 2005)

The court reverses the acquittal of an individual who was convicted for negligently discharging pollutants into the Colorado River in violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA). The lower court ruled as a matter of law that an individual is not guilty of negligently discharging a pollutant unless he knows that the pollutant's path terminates in protected water. This conclusion is at odds with the plain language of the CWA, which criminalizes any act of ordinary negligence that leads to the discharge of a pollutant into navigable waters of the United States.