County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund

U.S. Supreme Court

Question(s) Presented

Whether the CWA requires a permit when pollutants originate from a point source but are conveyed to navigable waters by a nonpoint source, such as groundwater.

Tab Group

Merits Stage

Supreme Court holds that Clean Water Act requires a permit for the “functional equivalent of a direct discharge” from a point source to a navigable water

April 23, 2020

Click here to view the opinion, which addressed the scope of the Clean Water Act’s permitting requirements. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had held that the Act requires a permit whenever pollutants are “fairly traceable” to a source. The Chamber filed an amicus brief at the merits stage in the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the Act’s permitting program applies to discharges directly into navigable waters, but not most indirect discharges (which are addressed by other environmental statutes and programs).

In a 6-3 decision the Court rejected both positions and held that the Act requires a permit where there is the “functional equivalent of a direct discharge” from a point source to a navigable water.

U.S. Chamber files amicus brief urging Supreme Court to overrule Ninth Circuit’s extra-statutory expansion of the Clean Water Act’s point source permitting program

May 16, 2019

Click here to view the Chamber’s brief.

Aaron M. Streett and J. Mark Little of Baker Botts L.L.P. served as co-counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.