State Supreme Court Upholds Stormwater Rules

OLYMPIA (AP) — A state Supreme Court decision has upheld stricter stormwater rules for building projects.

The Daily Herald reports the Thursday decision is a victory for clean-water advocates looking to protect Puget Sound from toxic runoff.

At issue was whether new low-impact stormwater regulations that took effect statewide in 2015 would apply to projects that were submitted earlier, but had not yet broken ground.

In Thursday's ruling, all nine Supreme Court justices agreed that projects predating mid-2015 would not be protected indefinitely under older, less-strict rules. That reversed an earlier appellate court decision.