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38 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 1 (2020-2021)

handle is hein.journals/penv38 and id is 1 raw text is: PACE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW
Volume 38       Fall 2020       Number 1

ARTICLES
The Hallmarks of a Good Test: A Proposal for
Applying the Functional Equivalent Rule
from County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund
DAMIEN M. SCHIFF* & GLENN E. ROPERt
The Clean Water Act generally requires a federal permit for the
discharge of pollutants from any point source to navigable waters.
It is undisputed that permits are required for discharges of pollutants
from point sources that proceed directly to regulated waters. But
there is much disagreement over the extent to which indirect point-
source discharges are regulated. In an attempt to clarify, the United
States Supreme Court in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund
ruled that permits are required not just for direct point-source
discharges, but also for any point-source discharge that is the
functional equivalent of    a  direct point-source   discharge.
Unfortunately, the Court did not define the term functional
equivalent, other than to offer a non-exhaustive list of seven factors
to consider (emphasizing time and distance), and to admonish lower
courts to both respect the states' traditional authority over water
pollution and be mindful of avoiding decisions that would encourage
evasion of the Act's permitting requirements.
To pick up where County of Maui left off, this Article proposes
the hallmark interpretation of the functional equivalent test.
According to this approach, a pollutant discharge is the functional
* Senior Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation.
t Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation.
1

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