| Litigants: | City and County of San Francisco v. EPA |
| Fullname: | City and County of San Francisco, California v. Environmental Protection Agency |
| Docket: | 23-753 |
| 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 |
| Questionspresented: | 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? |
City and County of San Francisco v. Environmental Protection Agency is a pending 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.[1] [2]
San Francisco has a combined sewage system that collects both sewage and stormwater runoff. When the system exceed its capacity during heavy rains, the combined sewer overflows (CSOs) discharge pollutants into the Pacific Ocean.
The Clean Water Act requires cities to acquire a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) for such discharges. The city of San Francisco, has implemented a CSO plan since the late 1960s and built current CSO control facilities in 1997.[3]
In 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for San Francisco's Oceanside treatment facility. San Francisco filed a petition for review by the Environmental Appeals Board, arguing that these provisions were inconsistent under the Clean Water Act and EPA regulations, but the board denied the petition. San Francisco then filed a petition for review by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but the court also rejected San Francisco's petition, holding that Clean Water Act authorizes EPA to include in the Oceanside NPDES permit the challenged provisions, and that EPA's decision to do so was rationally connected to evidence in the administrative record.[4]
The Supreme Court granted agreed to hear the case by writ of certiorari. The case is set to be heard during the 2024–2025 term.[5]