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6 

COUNTY OF MAUI v. HAWAII WILDLIFE FUND 

Opinion of the Court 

a  point  source  must  “proximately  cause”  the  pollutants’ 
eventual addition to navigable waters.  But the term “prox-
imate cause” derives from general tort law, and it takes on
its  specific  content  based  primarily  on  “policy”  considera-
tions.  See CSX Transp., Inc. v. McBride, 564 U. S. 685, 701 
(2011) (plurality opinion).  In the context of water pollution,
we do not see how it significantly narrows the statute be-
yond the words “fairly traceable” themselves. 

Our view is that Congress did not intend the point source-
permitting requirement to provide EPA with such broad au-
thority as the Ninth Circuit’s narrow focus on traceability 
would allow.  First, to interpret the word “from” in this lit-
eral way would require a permit in surprising, even bizarre, 
circumstances, such as for pollutants carried to navigable 
waters on a bird’s feathers, or, to mention more mundane 
instances, the 100-year migration of pollutants through 250
miles of groundwater to a river. 

Second, and perhaps most important, the structure of the
statute indicates that, as to groundwater pollution and non-
point source pollution, Congress intended to leave substan-
tial  responsibility  and  autonomy  to  the  States.    See,  e.g.,
§101(b), 86 Stat. 816 (stating Congress’ purpose in this re-
gard).  Much water pollution does not come from a readily
identifiable source.  See 3 Van Nostrand’s Scientific Ency-
clopedia, at 5801 (defining “Water Pollution”).  Rainwater, 
for example, can carry pollutants (say, as might otherwise 
collect on a roadway); it can pollute groundwater, and pol-
lution collected by unchanneled rainwater runoff is not or-
dinarily considered point source pollution.  Over many dec-
ades,  and  with  federal  encouragement,  the  States  have 
developed methods of regulating nonpoint source pollution
through water quality standards, and otherwise.  See, e.g.,
Nonpoint  Source  Program,  Annual  Report  (California)  6
(2016–2017) (discussing state timberland management pro-
grams  to  address  addition  of  sediment-pollutants  to  navi-