Environmentalists Reject Circuit Split Claims To Fight CWA Suit Rehearing

摘要

Environmentalists are urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit to preserve a divided panel's ruling that held a pipeline operator liable under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for an underground gasoline spill that reached surface waters, rejecting claims from a rehearing request that the decision conflicts with the Supreme Court and other circuits. The May 14 response brief opposing rehearing in Upstate Forever, et al., v. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners could serve as a preview of the environmentalists' likely arguments against Supreme Court review of the pipeline case or other similar suits, since industry and municipal defendants have signaled that the alleged circuit splits and conflicts with high court precedents will be the focus of their certiorari petitions. The brief is available on InsideEPA.com. (Doc. ID: 211849) In their new brief, Upstate Forever and other environmental plaintiffs say that rehearing requests filed by Kinder Morgan and industry amici "misrepresent" the Supreme Court's 2004 CWA decision South Florida Water Management District v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians to "try to concoct a nonexistent conflict" with the 4th Circuit's decision.