High Court to Weigh Whether EPA Must Define ‘Too Much’ Pollution

The US Supreme Court will consider San Francisco’s challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to tell cities not to pollute water bodies “too much” without setting a specific limitation.

San Francisco says its National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permits for discharges into the Pacific Ocean don’t tell the city what it needs to do to control pollution from sewage overflows. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit last July upheld EPA’s authority to issue generic limits, or “general narrative prohibitions,” on discharges under the Clean Water Act.

The city said that if the Supreme Court doesn’t require ...