City and County of San Francisco v. EPA
| City and County of San Francisco v. EPA | |
|---|---|
| Argued October 16, 2024 Decided March 4, 2025 | |
| Full case name | City and County of San Francisco, California v. Environmental Protection Agency |
| Docket no. | 23-753 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Opinion announcement | Opinion announcement |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Petion for review denied, City and County of San Francisco v. EPA; 75 F.4th 1074 (2023), United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit |
| Questions presented | |
| Does the Clean Water Act allow the Environmental Protection Agency (or an authorized state) to impose generic prohibitions in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits that subject permit-holders to enforcement for violating water quality standards without identifying specific limits to which their discharges must conform? | |
| Holding | |
| Section 1311(b)(1)(C) does not authorize the EPA to include “end-result” provisions in NPDES permits. Determining what steps a permittee must take to ensure that water quality standards are met is the EPA’s responsibility, and Congress has given it the tools needed to make that determination. United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Alito, joined by Roberts, Thomas, Kavanaugh; Gorsuch (except Part II); Sotomayor, Kagan, Barrett, Jackson (Part II) |
| Concur/dissent | Barrett (in part), joined by Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson |
| Laws applied | |
| Clean Water Act | |
City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency, 604 U.S. ___ (2025), is a United States Supreme Court case about whether the Clean Water Act allows the Environmental Protection Agency (or an authorized state) to impose generic prohibitions in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits that subject permit-holders to enforcement for violating water quality standards without identifying specific limits to which their discharges must conform.
On March 4, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of San Francisco in a 5-4 decision. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion.