Kavanaugh and Roberts Side with Liberals to Hand Environmentalists Huge Win; Alito Is Not Amused
Source: Law & Crime
Environmentalists scored a significant victory in the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday with help from some unusual suspects.
In a 6-3 opinion authored by Justice Stephen Breyer, two of the courts conservativesChief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaughjoined with the four-member liberal minority in order to strengthen a key provision of the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972.
Stylized as County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, the case stems from a lawsuit filed by several environmental groups in 2012 which alleged that Mauis use of a wastewater reclamation facility ran afoul of the CWA by pumping roughly four million gallons of treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean every day without a permit.
Under the CWA, a permit is required for the discharge of any pollutant into U.S. waterswhich is defined as any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source [or] any addition of any pollutant to the waters of the contiguous zone or the ocean from any point source other than a vessel or other floating craft.
The term pollutant is defined broadly by the nations longstanding environmental statute and also specifically includes solid and municipal
waste discharged into water.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/supreme-court/kavanaugh-and-roberts-side-with-liberals-to-hand-environmentalists-huge-win-alito-is-not-amused/
Thekaspervote
(32,689 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)msongs
(67,345 posts)marble falls
(56,977 posts)mountain grammy
(26,598 posts)Volaris
(10,266 posts)For probably another year or so, before letting him run around the backyard with Alito heh...
Brett is a mad dog conservative, and just for the sake of image and neighborhood standing the Chief is going to make sure that ones fuckin housebroken before he let's him loose to shit in the neighbors yard and try chew on their cats...
It's a managerial thing, more than it is about ideology.
killaphill
(212 posts)What leverage could he possibly have?
dhol82
(9,351 posts)What more needs to be done for it be non-polluting?
stopdiggin
(11,235 posts)apparently it needs to be "permitted?" But, yeah .. "treated" waste is usually considered pretty clean.
yellowcanine
(35,693 posts)Mauis wastewater reclamation facility collects sewage from the surrounding area, partially treats it, and each day pumps around 4 million gallons of treated water into the ground through four wells, the majority opinion notes. This effluent the travels about a half mile through groundwater, to the Pacific Ocean.
lildDemz
(64 posts)and good things die.
yellowcanine
(35,693 posts)stopdiggin
(11,235 posts)Renew Deal
(81,843 posts)sandensea
(21,594 posts)Anything that even suggests the common good is to be stamped out.
They way their daddies probably stomped on their pet mice when they were nine.
thesquanderer
(11,970 posts)He did not understand the plain meaning of a functional equivalent... i.e. an alternate approach that, in the end, has the identical result.
not fooled
(5,801 posts)well, color me surprised that robber-ts and beer bong boy figured it out.
AllaN01Bear
(17,944 posts)qazplm135
(7,447 posts)I do think it a silver lining that the conservative justices aren't carbon copies in lockstep but are a somewhat wide continuum.
We are getting more unusual groupings than one night expect.
Jose Garcia
(2,581 posts)qazplm135
(7,447 posts)other than Kagan, and even then that's usually restricted to her strong beliefs on stare decisis and I think a gamble to try and save Roe.
If Roe falls, I suspect Kagan will give up that gamble.
Polybius
(15,328 posts)She's still great though. Sotomayor is perhaps the most liberal.
qazplm135
(7,447 posts)she's pretty liberal. and again I think she's doing it to try and get conservatives, at least one, on board with that concept for Roe.
BComplex
(8,017 posts)This IS the end of the world!
bluestarone
(16,849 posts)Just hope we have MORE to come!
Kaleva
(36,240 posts)dhol82
(9,351 posts)Kaleva
(36,240 posts)dhol82
(9,351 posts)Really, he hasnt been there long enough to really screw up.
HotRod Deluxe
(86 posts)Really glad about the win, but just wondering... Do either of these two have a vacation home on Maui?
tavernier
(12,364 posts)jaxexpat
(6,793 posts)We were in the underground utility construction business and occasionally would be dealing with contaminated water issues. The subject was controlling construction site storm water discharged into public waterways. In our case, the St. Johns river.
I recall, He said, "The solution to pollution is dilution". I asked, "What does it solve?" He said. "What do you mean"?
My take away from that conversation, "conservative" "job creators" have a limited scope of understanding and REALLY don't get nuance at all. Shouldn't be allowed out in public unsupervised, really.
JudyM
(29,181 posts)Though in some cases hes right as ppm is inherently a relative standard.
oldsoftie
(12,485 posts)I mean, a drop of cyanide will kill you. But would it kill you if it was in 1000 gallons of water
jaxexpat
(6,793 posts)In the 80s, American grain (soybeans and corn) shipped to China had an allowable foreign matter factor. I think it was 6% but I really forget. At the US ports, shippers would calculate the actual amount in their shipment and if it was below the allowance they simply added tons of dirt to the shipment. The Chinese byers complained saying they didn't so much mind paying for the additional tonnage but that they would prefer it if the Americans would put it in containers and save them the grain cleaning operation.
At issue was that the standards had been written before the widespread use of modern harvesting machines (combines) and common grain handling techniques employed by practically every farmer/producer. The American farmer's product was cleaner than the standard because of these modern methods. But the use/misuse of that standard by shippers prevented American farmers from realizing a premium price for their produce that should have been due them because of its superior quality. The shippers wanted maximum profit. It's then, to my mind, a more complex issue than the tritely convenient rhyme, "the solution to pollution is dilution" is able to conscribe.
Some say 2 drops of cyanide per 100 gallons of water is actually good for you, right?
dhol82
(9,351 posts)Thanks.
oldsoftie
(12,485 posts)jaxexpat
(6,793 posts)JudyM
(29,181 posts)And EWWW.
Dopers_Greed
(2,640 posts)Clean water is needed to make BEER.
All jokes aside, I'll give them credit where it's due. At least we got this vote from them.
SunSeeker
(51,502 posts)Sewage treatment plants should not get a special exemption. And just because you channel it through a groundwater aquifer before it reaches the Pacific is no different than sticking a pipe into the Pacific. In fact, it's worse. You're polluting groundwater AND ocean water.
lastlib
(23,135 posts)If it's a reasonable idea, they're bound to oppose it.
dhol82
(9,351 posts)They were not pumping raw sewage straight out to the ocean.
It was treated but not enough.
Hekate
(90,526 posts)Aristus
(66,274 posts)And barley to make beer. So good for him for thinking ahead...
dugog55
(296 posts)comes to shove on really important issues (not downplaying the waste water problem) Roberts and Kavanaugh will side with the Conservatives. Almost guaranteed. Roberts track record is proof.
mpcamb
(2,868 posts)And next time when a corporate giant wants its way... Well, you take a guess which way Kavanaugh and Roberts will vote.
Oppaloopa
(866 posts)Johnyawl
(3,205 posts)The recent decision on unanimous juries was 2 conservatives and 1 liberal against, and 3 liberals and 3 conservatives for. SMDH What's going on?
oldsoftie
(12,485 posts)And have been for years.
Its just the 5-4s that make the news.
Steelrolled
(2,022 posts)The party-line votes are disappointing, simply because of the fact that there is a party-line in the supreme court.
Orrex
(63,168 posts)Still don't trust or respect him, but honestly I thought he'd be in 100% lockstep with the elder conservative justices.
question everything
(47,425 posts)K&R
Steelrolled
(2,022 posts)On the other hand, there are probably still a lot of esoteric issues that politics hasn't yet infected.