Wow, this sucks. The U.S. District Court of Appeals for San Francisco reversed a judgment in favor of San Francisco Baykeeper. Cargill Salt Division operates a salt-making plant “near the southeastern edge of San Francisco Bay,” and discharges polluted runoff into a pond nearby, which is adjacent to Mowry Slough, part of a wildlife refuge.

The district court had ruled that because Mowry Slough is a “protected water of the United States,” Cargill had to stop polluting the pond, which sometimes flows together with the Slough at high tide. (And the Slough is also a “navigable tributary” of the Bay.) But the appeals court ruled that because the Slough is not a “wetland,” the Clean Water Act doesn’t apply. So they reversed the summary judgment in favor of Baykeepers. I’m sure these sorts of decisions, chipping away at environmental protections, happen more and more often as Bush gets to appoint federal judges. This one just happened to be in my neck of the woods.