By Julia Cheever

May 23, 2008

A federal appeals court in San Francisco today overturned a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule that allowed oil and gas companies to discharge sediment contaminated by construction activities into stormwater without a permit.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the EPA misinterpreted the federal Clean Water Act when it concluded that permits were not needed.

The ruling was made in an appeal filed by the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has an office in San Francisco, and three other environmental groups from Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico.

Natural Resources Defense Council spokesman Craig Noble said the ruling should help to safeguard streams in western states from contamination carried by stormwater.

Noble said, “The decision is significant in protecting water quality in western streams from pollution from oil and gas production.”

An EPA spokesman said the agency will not have a comment on the ruling until later today.

The decision by a 2-1 panel of the appeals court could be appealed to a larger panel of that court or to the U.S. Supreme Court.