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U.S. Supreme Court Says Some Groundwater Discharges Fall Under CWA
April 30th, 2020 — by Terra Bowling — Category: Clean Water Act Environmental Law Groundwater

In a 6-3 opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires the federal government to regulate some groundwater pollutants that discharge into navigable waters. (Cty. of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, No. 18-260, 2020 WL 1941966 (U.S. Apr. 23, 2020)). The CWA prohibits the addition of any pollutant from a point source to navigable waters without the appropriate permit. In this case, the Supreme Court had to determine whether a permit is necessary “when pollutants originate from a point source but are conveyed to navigable waters by a nonpoint source, here, ‘groundwater.’”

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COVID-19 has affected all of our lives in a multitude of ways. It can be difficult to navigate Congress’ efforts to ease the impact on Americans, such as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (or “CARES”) Act. As a result, the National Sea Grant Law Center (NSGLC) has received numerous questions from both the National Marine Fisheries Service and Sea Grant programs throughout the country on what relief is available to fishermen, aquaculture farms, and the larger seafood industry.

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In 1996, Intersal, Inc., a marine salvage company, discovered Blackbeard’s sunken pirate ship off the coast of North Carolina. Blackbeard had seized the French slave ship in 1717, renaming it the Queen Anne’s Revenge. He navigated the vessel through the Caribbean and up the North American coast. The vessel’s tenure as a pirate ship was cut short in 1718 when Blackbeard ran it aground on a sandbar off the coast of Beaufort, North Carolina. Under state and federal law, the wreck belongs to the state. The state contracted with Intersal to recover the shipwreck. Intersal contracted with Allen to document the operation. Allen made videos and photos of the recovery efforts, registering copyrights for his works.

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