Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council

These cases require us to address two questions under the Clean Water Act (CWA or Act). The first is whether the Act gives authority to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, or instead to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency), to issue a permit for the discharge of min*266ing waste, called slurry. The Corps of Engineers (or Corps) has issued a permit to petitioner Coeur Alaska, Inc. (Coeur Alaska), for a discharge of slurry into a lake in southeast Alaska. The second question is whether, when the Corps issued that permit, the agency acted in accordance with law. We conclude…