On March 21, in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court (mirabile dictu) held that regulated entities may obtain judicial review of administrative compliance orders issued by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act even if the EPA has not sued on an order. The court expressed some consternation over the EPA’s assertion of the ability to take unreviewable enforcement actions merely because without review, enforcement orders would more quickly induce “voluntary” compliance.
Environmental practitioners will be familiar with a bar on pre-enforcement review of even very consequential decisions of the EPA under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.
