PUD No. 1 of Jefferson County v. Washington Department of Ecology
1994 United States Supreme Court case / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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PUD No. 1 of Jefferson County v. Washington Department of Ecology, 511 U.S. 700 (1994), is a case decided by the United States Supreme Court that interpreted section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The case involved an application by the Jefferson County Public Utility District and Tacoma City Light in northwestern Washington to build a hydropower facility on the Dosewallips River, first proposed in 1982 and known as the "Elkhorn Dam" project. The Washington State Department of Ecology issued a certification to the project in 1986 that imposed minimum water flow requirements to protect species of salmon and steelhead under the federal Clean Water Act. Tacoma City Light argued that the dam project would only need to adhere to minimum flow standards set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), who license dams. Environmentalist groups argued that the FERC was insensitive to recreation and protection of salmon and steelhead and asked the state to enforce its minimum flow standards.[1][2][3]
PUD No. 1 of Jefferson County v. Washington Department of Ecology | |
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Argued February 23, 1994 Decided May 31, 1994 | |
Full case name | PUD No. 1 of Jefferson County v. Washington Department of Ecology |
Docket no. | 92-1911 |
Citations | 511 U.S. 700 (more) 114 S. Ct. 1900; 128 L. Ed. 2d 716 |
Holding | |
Washington's minimum stream flow requirement is a permissible condition of a §401 certification. The State may impose requirements to ensure that activities which may result in a discharge into the navigable waters will comply with state water quality standards. Affirmed 121 Wash. 2d 179, 849 P. 2d 646. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | O'Connor, joined by Rehnquist, Blackmun, Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg |
Concurrence | Stevens |
Dissent | Thomas, joined by Scalia |
The Washington State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state Department of Ecology on April 1, 1993.[4] The case was taken to the United States Supreme Court the following year, where the court ruled 7–2 in favor of the state.[1]