County of Maui, Hawaii, Petitioner v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund

Summary

The Court held that the Clean Water Act requires an EPA permit when a pollutant from a point source reaches navigable waters either by a direct discharge or by the functional equivalent of a direct discharge, rejecting both the narrow “means‑of‑delivery” test and the Ninth Circuit’s broad “fairly traceable” standard. The decision vacates the Ninth Circuit judgment and remands for further proceedings consistent with this interpretation.