Supreme Court Rules Against EPA in Permitting Case Supported by NAHB

Legal
Published
Contact: Thomas Ward
[email protected]
VP, Legal Advocacy
(202) 266-8230

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday handed down a decision in San Francisco v. EPA, a case concerning the Environmental Protection Agency’s duties to provide a path to compliance for certain clean water permits. NAHB filed an amicus brief in the case.

The case concerned “water quality standards” related to federal wastewater permits and how EPA must describe a permittee’s duties to meet those standards. In San Francisco’s permits, EPA said that the city had to meet the receiving waters’ — in this case, the Pacific Ocean — “water quality standard” without telling the city how that should be accomplished. San Francisco claimed this condition violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) and the Supreme Court agreed. 

NAHB filed an amicus brief in the case over the concern that if the court agreed with San Francisco’s argument, it could go too far and require EPA to include numeric discharge limits in CWA permits.

A large portion of NAHB members must comply with “construction general permits” (CGPs) due to their earthwork on site. CGPs contain “narrative” permit conditions, often referred to as “best management practices.” NAHB’s brief explained how narrative permit conditions comply with the CWA and cautioned the court not to eradicate them.

In deciding the case, the court focused on the words of the CWA that direct EPA to create limitations in permits to “meet” or “implement” water quality standards. It provided that simply telling permittees to comply with water quality standards does not explain how to “meet” or “implement” them. As a result, the court ruled in favor of San Francisco.

Moreover, the court went out of its way to ensure that the narrative requirements were not at issue in this case and that such requirements are allowed by the CWA. In fact, the court cited NAHB’s brief twice to make these points. 

Subscribe to NAHBNow

Log in or create account to subscribe to notifications of new posts.

Log in to subscribe

Latest from NAHBNow

Oct 24, 2025

Is the Construction Industry Attracting Younger Workers?

According to the 2023 American Community Survey (ACS), the median age of construction labor force is 42 years old — one year older than a typical worker in the national labor force. However, the construction industry has seen an increase in younger skilled labor since the peak of the skilled labor shortage in 2021.

Codes and Standards

Oct 23, 2025

NAHB Requests Member Feedback on ICC Review of International Residential Code

The International Code Council (ICC) has announced it will begin a holistic review of the International Residential Code (IRC), the national model construction code for one- and two-family dwellings that ICC updates every three years.

View all

Latest Economic News

Economics

Oct 24, 2025

Inflation Picks Up in September

Inflation increased in September to the fastest pace since the start of the year, showing tariff pressure on prices continues to materialize gradually, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) latest report.

Economics

Oct 23, 2025

Existing Home Sales Increase in September

Existing home sales rose to a seven-month high in September as mortgage rates eased and inventory improved, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Resale inventory matched to the highest level since May 2020, though it remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Economics

Oct 22, 2025

Where are Porches Most Common for Newly-Built Homes?

Although the share of new homes with porches edged down in 2024, porches continue to rank as the most common outdoor feature on new homes, according to NAHB tabulation of the latest data from the Survey of Construction (SOC, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau with partial funding from HUD).