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County Commissioners of Carroll County, Maryland v. Maryland Department of the Environment

Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Maryland, No. 5, September Term, 2018 · judgment August 6, 2019

Certiorari denied · March 2, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 1% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Questions presented

The State of Maryland is authorized by the United States Environmental Protection Agency to issue National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits under the Clean Water Act. The Maryland Department of the Environment issued an NPDES permit to Carroll County, Maryland to authorize stormwater discharges from the County’s municipal separate storm sewer system. Notwithstanding that NPDES permits regulate only point source discharges from the permitted facility, this NPDES permit makes the County responsible for nonpoint source runoff and other third-party stormwater discharges that neither flow into nor discharge from the County’s municipal separate storm sewer system. The questions presented are:

  1. Can responsibility for nonpoint source runoff and third parties’ stormwater discharges be imposed upon a local government under the Clean Water Act through an NPDES permit for discharges from its municipal separate storm sewer system?

  2. Is a Clean Water Act permitting decision to classify a “Small” municipal separate storm sewer system as “Medium” and subject it to the Clean Water Act’s heightened requirements for such systems without complying with the applicable designation process prescribed by 40 C.F.R. § 122.26(a) subject to judicial review?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Christopher Donald Pomeroy
AquaLaw PLC

For respondent
Adam D. Snyder

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Mar 02 2020
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Feb 12 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/28/2020.
  3. Jan 23 2020
    Brief of respondent Maryland Department of the Environment in opposition filed.
  4. Dec 06 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including January 23, 2020.
  5. Dec 04 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from December 26, 2019 to January 23, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
  6. Nov 26 2019
    Response Requested. (Due December 26, 2019)
  7. Nov 25 2019
    Brief amici curiae of The National Association of Clean Water Agencies, et al. filed.
  8. Nov 20 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/6/2019.
  9. Nov 12 2019
    Waiver of right of respondent Maryland Department of the Environment to respond filed.
  10. Nov 04 2019
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, County Commissioners of Carroll County, Maryland.
  11. Nov 04 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due December 6, 2019)