United States v. Pennsylvania Industrial Chemical Corp.

We review here the reversal by the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit of respondent's conviction for violation of § 131 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, *65730 Stat. 1152, 33 U. S. C. § 407. Two questions are presented. The first is whether the Government may prosecute an alleged polluter under § 13 in the absence of the promulgation of a formal regulatory-permit program by the Secretary of the Army.2 The second is whether, if the prosecution is maintainable despite the nonexistence of a formal regulatory-permit program, this respondent was entitled to assert as a defense its alleged…