“The EPA has been consistent in its views that the types of discharges at issue here do not require permits.” —Kennedy, Justice 

Facts: The federal Clean Water Act (Act) and regulations adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) require permits to be obtained before stormwater runoff from industrial activity can be discharged into navigable waters of the United States. Georgia-Pacific West, Inc. and other logging companies have contracts with the state of Oregon to harvest lumber from forests in northeast Oregon. The companies use roads for that purpose. When it rains, stormwater runs off the graded roads into ditches, culverts, and channels that discharge the runoff into streams and rivers. The discharge often contains dirt and crushed gravel that can harm fish and aquatic organisms. The EPA ruled that stormwater runoffs from logging roads were not from industrial activity and did not therefore require permits. The Northwest Environmental Defense Center (NEDC), an environmental organization, sued the logging companies and Oregon in U.S. district court, alleging that the defendants’ stormwater runoff violated the Act. The U.S. district court dismissed the lawsuit. The U.S. court of appeals ruled that a permit was necessary and held that the defendants were in violation of the Act. The defendants appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Issue: Is the stormwater runoff from logging roads an industrial activity? 

Language of the U.S. Supreme Court: Under the Act, petitioners were required to secure permits for the discharges of channeled stormwater runoff only if the discharges were associated with industrial activity. The EPA has been consistent in its views that the types of discharges at issue here do not require permits. The stormwater rule, as permissibly construed by the EPA, exempts discharges of channeled stormwater runoff from logging roads from the permitting scheme. 

Decision: The U.S. Supreme Court held in favor of the defendants and reversed the decision of the U.S. court of appeals. 

Ethics Questions: Do companies owe a duty of social responsibility to voluntarily adopt more effective measures than required by law to protect the environment? Who would you have held for in this case, the logging companies or the NEDC?