No. 23-1028

Shannon Poe v. Idaho Conservation League

Lower Court: Ninth Circuit
Docketed: 2024-03-19
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Amici (2)Relisted (2)
Tags: addition-of-pollutant chevron-deference clean-water-act discharge-of-pollutant navigable-waters ninth-circuit-ruling pollutant-discharge statutory-interpretation
Key Terms:
Environmental AdministrativeLaw ERISA Privacy JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2024-07-01 (distributed 2 times)
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether there is a 'discharge of a pollutant' under the Clean Water Act when material already within a regulated waterbody is merely moved or resuspended within that waterbody?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTION PRESENTED The Clean Water Act forbids the unpermitted “discharge of any pollutant” into “navigable waters.” 33 U.S.C. §§ 1311(a), 1362(11). The Act defines “discharge of a pollutant” as “any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters[.]” Id. § 1362(12). This Court has twice held that, as a matter of ordinary meaning, there can be no “addition of any pollutant” unless there is an increase of pollutants to a waterbody. S. Florida Water Mgmt. Dist. v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, 541 U.S. 95, 109-12 (2004); Los Angeles Cnty. Flood Control Dist. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 568 U.S. 78, 82-84 (2013). In conflict with these decisions, as well as rulings from several courts of appeals, the Ninth Circuit below found “addition” ambiguous, applied Chevron deference, and held that Petitioner’s smallscale suction dredge mining added pollutants to an Idaho river—even though his mining just temporarily resuspended material in the water column that was already present within the waterbody. The question presented is: Whether there is a “discharge of a pollutant” under the Clean Water Act when material already within a regulated waterbody is merely moved or resuspended within that waterbody?

Docket Entries

2024-07-02
Petition DENIED.
2024-06-28
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 7/1/2024.
2024-06-04
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/20/2024.
2024-05-31
2024-05-20
2024-04-18
2024-04-18
Brief amicus curiae of Center for Constitutional Responsibility filed.
2024-04-09
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including May 20, 2024.
2024-04-08
Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 18, 2024 to May 20, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
2024-03-15

Attorneys

Center for Constitutional Responsibility
Steven Paul LehotskyLehotsky Keller Cohn LLP, Amicus
Idaho Conservation League
Kirti DatlaEarthjustice, Respondent
Laurence J. LucasAdvocates for the West, Respondent
Shannon Poe
Frank Dawson Garrison IVPacific Legal Foundation, Petitioner
West Virginia and 20 Other States
Michael Ray WilliamsOffice of the West Virginia Attorney General, Amicus
Lindsay Sara SeeOffice of the West Virginia Attorney General, Amicus