West Virginia ex rel. Dyer et al. v. Sims, State Auditor (341 U.S. 22)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 9, 1951 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 341 U.S. 22 · 71 S. Ct. 557
- Decided
- April 9, 1951
- Term
- October Term 1950
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Frankfurter
- Issue area
- Interstate Relations
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Unspecifiable
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court. After extended negotiations eight States entered into a Compact to control pollution in the Ohio River system. See Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Compact, 54 Stat. 752. Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia recognized that they were faced with one of the problems of government that are defined by natural rather than political boundaries. Accordingly, they pledged themselves to cooperate in maintaining waters in the Ohio River basin in a sanitary condition through the administrative mechanism of the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, consisting of three members from each State and three representing the United States. The heart of the Compact is Article VI. This provides that sewage discharged into boundary streams or streams flowing from one State into another “shall be so treated, within a time reasonable for the construction of the necessary works, as to provide for substantially complete removal of settleable solids, and the removal of not less than forty-five per cent (45%) of the total suspended solids; provided that, in order to protect the public health or to preserve the waters for other legitimate purposes, ... in specific instances such higher degree of treatment shall be used as may be determined to be necessary by the Commission after…
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