Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-260_jifl.pdf
Page Number: 28

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

3 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

point source or groundwater, they are added to the second 
from the first.  If the pollutants are later released to navi-
gable waters, they are added to the navigable waters from 
the second point source or the groundwater.  One would not 
naturally say that the pollutants are added to the navigable 
waters from the original point source. 

Interpreting  “discharge”  to  mean  a  direct  discharge
makes sense of other parts of the definition as well.  It re-
spects the statutory definition of a point source as a “con-
veyance,”  see  §1362(14),  because  a  point  source  that  re-
leases pollutants directly into navigable waters is a means
of conveyance.  And it makes sense of the word “any” before
“point source,” because that term clarifies that any kind of 
point source may require a permit.

The structure of the CWA confirms this interpretation.  It 
authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
regulate discharges from point sources, including through
the permitting process, but it reserves to the States the pri-
mary  responsibility  for  regulating  other  sources  of  pollu-
tion, including groundwater.  With respect to these sources, 
the EPA merely collects information, coordinates with the
States,  and  provides  funding.  See  33  U. S. C.  §§1252(a), 
1254(a)(5), 1282(b)(2), 1288, 1314(a), 1329; ante, at 6–7.  In 
the CWA, Congress expressly stated its “policy . . . to recog-
nize, preserve, and protect the primary responsibilities and 
rights of States to prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution.”
§1251(b).  Thus,  construing  the  EPA’s  power  to  regulate 
point  sources  to  allow  the  agency  to  regulate  nonpoint
sources  and  groundwater  is  in  serious  tension  with  Con-
gress’ design.

My reading is also consistent with our decision in South 
Fla. Water Management Dist. v. Miccosukee Tribe, 541 U. S. 
95 (2004).  The petitioner in that case argued that no permit
was  required  when  a  point  source  was  not  the  original 
source of the pollutant but instead conveyed the pollutant
from further up a chain of sources.  Id., at 104.  We rejected