“The court accepted a third Clean Water Act case on Tuesday that presents a different issue under a separate section of the law. The question in that case, S. D. Warren Co. v. Maine Department of Environmental Protection, No. 04-1527, is whether a dam through which water flows requires certification under the statute even if nothing is added to the water, either from outside or by the dam itself.
“The Clean Water Act requires a 'water quality certification' before making 'any discharge' of a 'pollutant' into navigable waters. The owner of five 100-year-old hydroelectric generating dams in Maine, which provide electricity to a paper mill, is arguing that flowing water does not constitute a 'discharge.'
“The Maine Supreme Judicial Court rejected that argument on the ground that 'water that has left its natural state and has been subjected to man-made control' could be considered a discharge.”
Attack on Wetlands?
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