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Mar 21, 2012

U.S. Supreme Court Issues Decision on Pre-Enforcement Judicial Review of EPA Compliance Orders

On March 21, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an unanimous decision in Sackett v. EPA, a closely watched case addressing the enforcement authority of the U.S. EPA under § 309 of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA).  Without addressing the underlying substantive issue regarding the jurisdictional scope of the CWA, the Supreme Court held that a defendant is entitled to obtain judicial review of an EPA administrative compliance order prior to EPA taking any enforcement action regarding the order. In Sackett, two Idaho landowners received an administrative compliance order from EPA in which EPA (1) concluded that the Sacketts… Read more