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Victory in Decker : Supreme Court says NPDES permits not required for logging road runoff

March 20, 2013 | By BRIAN HODGES

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion this morning in Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center.  In a 7-1 decision, written by Justice Kennedy, the Court concluded that EPA’s Industrial Stormwater Rule exempts discharges of channeled stormwater runoff from logging roads from the NPDES permitting scheme.  The Court’s opinio ...

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Supplemental briefs in Decker give the Court many options

January 23, 2013 | By BRIAN HODGES

The parties in Decker filed their supplemental briefs with the Supreme Court today.  To recap: The issue in Decker is whether logging road owners must obtain National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits to cover stormwater runoff from the roads, either because channeled runoff constitutes a point source discharge, or because it ...

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Supreme Court seeks supplemental briefing on new stormwater rule in Decker

January 09, 2013 | By BRIAN HODGES

First comes briefing, then comes oral argument, then comes . . . more briefing?  That’s what the Supreme Court decided in Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center yesterday, when it invited the parties and the Solicitor General to file supplemental briefs. When the Court heard oral argument last month, most of the Court’s quest ...

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Last-minute EPA rule dominates questioning at Decker oral argument

December 05, 2012 | By BRIAN HODGES

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center earlier this week.  Recall that the issue in Decker is whether logging road owners and users must obtain federal National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits to cover stormwater runoff on the roads.  PLF filed an amicus brief on behal ...

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PLF joins broad opposition to judicial expansion of Clean Water Act

September 05, 2012 | By BRIAN HODGES

PLF attorneys recently filed an amicus brief supporting Oregon state officials and several timber companies in the U.S. Supreme Court case Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center.  This is the case in which the Court is being asked by the environmental group Northwest Environmental Defense Center to overturn a decades-old rule that exempt ...

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U.S. Supreme Court to hear forest road runoff case

June 25, 2012 | By BRIAN HODGES

Good news from the U.S. Supreme Court today!  The Court announced that it will hear two cases dealing with the treatment of forest roads under the Clean Water Act in its upcoming term.  The question the Court will address is whether rainwater running off forest roads must be regulated as point source pollution, making forest … ...