Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-260_jifl.pdf
Page Number: 49.0

16 

COUNTY OF MAUI v. HAWAII WILDLIFE FUND 

ALITO, J., dissenting 

UARG, the EPA had promulgated greenhouse-gas emission 
standards for stationary sources that “constitute[d] an ‘un-
precedented expansion of EPA authority that would have a 
profound effect on virtually every sector of the economy and 
touch every household in the land.’ ”  573 U. S., at 310–311 
(quoting 73 Fed. Reg. 44355 (2008)).  The statutory scheme,
designed for large stationary sources like factories, would 
have been extended to smaller sources like hotels and retail 
establishments.  The number of permits (and associated ex-
penses) would have skyrocketed.

Here,  as  the  EPA  explained  in  a  recent  Interpretive
Statement,  the  Fourth  and  Ninth  Circuit  “discharge” 
tests—which I struggle to distinguish from the “functional
equivalent”  formulation—broaden  the  Act’s  coverage  to 
“potentially swee[p] into the scope of the statute common-
place and ubiquitous activities such as releases from home-
owners’ backyard septic systems.”  84 Fed. Reg. 16823. 

IV 
The  Court  does  little  to  justify  its  newfound  standard,
other  than  to  point  to  certain  past  EPA  enforcement  ac-
tions,  see  ante,  at  8–9,  17,  but  the  EPA’s  position  on  the 
regulation  of  groundwater  has  been  anything  but  con-
sistent.  It is true, as the Court recounts, that the EPA has 
required  NPDES  permits  for  the  discharge  of  some  pollu-
tants  that  migrate  through  groundwater  before  reaching 
navigable  waters.  See  ante,  at  8–9.  But  the  EPA  has 
contradicted  itself  on  this  important  question  multiple 
times.  See Brief for Edison Electric Institute et al. as Amici 
Curiae 21–32 (reviewing EPA NPDES interpretations and
permitting practices).

In the Act’s earliest years, the EPA deputy general coun-
sel wrote in a formal memorandum that “[d]ischarges into
ground waters” do not require NPDES permits.  Memoran-
dum  to  EPA  Region  IX  Regional  Counsel  2–3  (Dec.  13,