Judge Seeks Judicial Precedent To Guide ‘Special Case’ CWA Exclusion

A federal district court judge pressed attorneys for environmentalists and EPA at a Sept. 3 hearing to identify appellate or Supreme Court rulings that support their opposing positions on whether the agency properly excluded 1,365 acres of salt ponds adjacent to San Francisco Bay from Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction. But Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California appeared frustrated at times with the attorneys’ answers, telling Eric Buescher, representing Save the Bay,...