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On 16 October 2024, the Supreme Court of the U.S. heard oral arguments for City and County of San Francisco, California vs. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a legal dispute over the methodology behind pollution standards written into National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits. Central to the dispute is the legal permissibility of narrative-based permit limits, which are qualitative water quality standards (e.g., ‘no visible oil sheen,’ ‘maintain conditions to protect aquatic life’) set forth by the EPA when specific numeric criteria are unavailable or infeasible.
In this Research Note:
- Unclear boundaries poised to cut into Clean Water Act’s water quality enforcement
- Will SCOTUS narrow EPA’s water quality oversight?
- Case garners widespread attention, with strange bedfellows backing San Francisco’s position
- Looking ahead, the National Environmental Policy Act moves onto the SCOTUS docket
