Supreme Court Will Hear San Francisco’s Challenge to EPA Rule

The Supreme Court agreed on May 28 to hear San Francisco’s appeal of a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that allows the EPA to issue permits that contain general—not specific—prohibitions against violating water quality standards. The issue is whether the Environmental Protection Agency or states are allowed to impose generic prohibitions in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits that subject permit-holders to enforcement for running afoul of water quality standards without identifying the specific limits to which the discharges are supposed to conform. The petition for certiorari, or review, in City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency, was granted in an unsigned order....