Lawrence Liebesman is a Partner in our
Washington D.C. office
Opens Door to Future Citizen Suits Seeking to Enforce an
Ambiguous EPA Regulation
On March 20, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in
Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center that
addresses the issue of "whether the Clean Water Act and its
implementing regulations require permits before channelized
stormwater runoff from logging roads can be discharged into Waters
of the United States."1
In a 7-1 opinion written by Justice Kennedy, the Court reversed
the ruling of U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and
upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)
interpretation of its Silviculture Rule2 exempting such
discharges from the Clean Water Act's ("CWA")
permitting requirements. In so ruling, the Court held that future
CWA citizen suits may be filed to enforce an obligation under an
ambiguous EPA rule that conflicts with EPA's own interpretation
where the suit is brought
