Doug Decker, in His Official Capacity As Oregon State Forester, et al., Petitioners v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center; (568 U.S. 597)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 20, 2013 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 568 U.S. 597 · 133 S. Ct. 1326
- Decided
- March 20, 2013
- Term
- October Term 2012
- Vote
- 7–1
- Majority author
- Justice Kennedy
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court. These cases present the question whether the Clean Water Act and its implementing regulations require permits before channeled stormwater runoff from logging roads can be discharged into the navigable waters of the United States. Under the statute and its implementing regulations, a permit is required if the discharges are deemed to be “associated with industrial activity.” 33 U. S. C. § 1342(p)(2)(B). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency), with the responsibility to enforce the Act, has issued a regulation defining the term “associated with industrial activity” to cover only discharges “from any conveyance that is used for collecting and conveying storm water and that is directly related to manufacturing, processing or raw materials storage areas at an industrial plant.” 40 CFR § 122.26(b)(14) (2006). The EPA interprets its regulation to exclude the type of stormwater discharges from logging roads at issue here. See Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 24-27. For reasons now to be explained, the Court concludes the EPA’s determination is a reasonable interpretation of its own regulation; and, in consequence, deference is accorded to the interpretation under Auer v. Robbins, 519 U. S. 452, 461 (1997). I—I A Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972 to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and…
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