(AP) — A U.S. District Court judge said Maui County must get permits to operate injection wells that environmental groups said are polluting the ocean. Several environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 2012 over the injection wells, saying effluent was entering the ocean and damaging coral reefs and sea life. The Maui News reports that in a ruling Thursday, Judge Susan Oki Mollway sided with the environmental groups and ordered Maui County to obtain a permit under the Clean Water Act. Maui county officials had refused to settle the case and brought it to the Supreme Court in 2019. The Supreme Court in April 2020 ruled that injection wells fall under the Clean Water Act.

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