Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. v. Upstate Forever

U.S. Supreme Court

Question(s) Presented

1. Whether the Clean Water Act’s permitting requirement is confined to discharges from a point source to navigable waters, or whether it also applies to discharges into soil or groundwater whenever there is a “direct hydrological connection” between the groundwater and nearby navigable waters.

2. Whether an “ongoing violation” of the Clean Water Act exists for purposes of the Act’s citizen-suit provision when a point source has permanently ceased discharging pollutants, but some of the pollutants are still reaching navigable water through groundwater.

Tab Group

Petition Stage

U.S. Supreme Court grants, vacates, and remands, for consideration in light of County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, the Fourth Circuit’s erroneous holding that Clean Water Act permitting requirements apply to discharges into groundwater whenever there

May 8, 2020

The U.S. Chamber filed an amicus brief in support of certiorari in this case and on the merits of the County of Maui case.

U.S. Chamber urges Supreme Court to review scope of the Clean Water Act’s permitting program and reject the so-called “hydrologic connection” or “conduit” theory

October 4, 2018

Click here to view the amicus brief filed jointly by the U.S. Chamber and the Utility Water Act Group.

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.