"Conflicting federal court decisions over groundwater pollution liability have created what one law professor calls “a spaghetti jungle” that the Supreme Court must untangle.
Since the start of the year—most recently this week—the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth, Sixth, and Ninth circuits have issued rulings that are at odds over the scope of the Clean Water Act when pollution reaches federally protected waterways via groundwater.
Municipalities, states, manufacturers, and miners are looking to the Supreme Court to decide whether the Clean Water Act is limited to regulating direct pollution releases from discrete and defined pipes, tunnels, and drains into federally protected waters. Alternatively, the law could be extended to indirect releases via groundwater.
Whether the court chooses to deal with that question remains uncertain for now. The Supreme Court already has been asked to weigh in on the Ninth Circuit ruling."
Amena H. Saiyid reports for Bloomberg Environment September 25, 2018.
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