An unexpected ruling in a Clean Water Act case now before the US Supreme Court would be a threat to the EPA’s proposed decision to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay from the planned Pebble Mine, environmental lawyers say.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed pollution restrictions for Bristol Bay announced Wednesday are expected to mostly withstand the court’s upcoming ruling in Sackett v. EPA, focusing on protections for waters of the US, or WOTUS—but only if the court upholds precedent.
Some litigants in the case want the Clean Water Act’s WOTUS protections to apply only to waters that are navigable, not ...