Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Eastern Oregon Mining Association, et al. v. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, et al.
Paid petition · Supreme Court of Oregon, No. CC 10C24263 · judgment July 25, 2019
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
The Clean Water Act forbids the unpermitted “addition of any pollutant to navigable waters,” 33 U.S.C. § 1362(12) (emphasis added). See id. § 1311(a). Below, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality determined, pursuant to federally delegated power, that the Act’s prohibition applies to small-scale suction dredge mining. Although such mining results in the movement of native streambed matter, it adds no material to the waters in which it is conducted. The Supreme Court of Oregon upheld the Department’s assertion of Clean Water Act authority, ruling—in conflict with decisions of this Court as well as the D.C. and Sixth Circuit Courts of Appeals—that the mere repositioning of things within a water results in the “addition” of pollutants to that water. The question presented is: Does the Clean Water Act regulate activities that simply move pre-existing material, such as rock, sand, and gravel, within a “navigable water”?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Damien Michael Schiff
Pacific Legal Foundation
For respondent
Benjamin Noah Gutman
Oregon Department of Justice
Proceedings
- Jun 15 2020Petition DENIED.
- May 26 2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/11/2020.
- May 21 2020Reply of petitioners Thomas A. Kitchar, et al. filed. Distributed
- May 08 2020Brief of respondents Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, et al. in opposition filed.
- Apr 03 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including May 8, 2020.
- Apr 02 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 8, 2020 to May 8, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 18 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 8, 2020.
- Feb 13 2020Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 9, 2020 to April 8, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
- Feb 07 2020Response Requested. (Due March 9, 2020)
- Feb 05 2020DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/21/2020.
- Feb 03 2020Amicus brief of American Mining Rights Association, et al. not accepted for filing. (February 04, 2020)
- Feb 03 2020Brief amici curiae of American Mining Rights Association, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Jan 10 2020Waiver of right of respondents Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, et al. to respond filed.
- Dec 20 2019Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 3, 2020)
- Sep 05 2019Application (19A262) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until December 22, 2019.
- Sep 03 2019Application (19A262) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from October 23, 2019 to December 22, 2019, submitted to Justice Kagan.