The environmental fight that played out inside the Supreme Court on Wednesday was unusual in many ways: It featured poop, a whopping $10 billion fine and one of the nation’s greenest cities — San Francisco — battling the Environmental Protection Agency over water pollution rules in a case that could reverberate beyond the Bay Area.

Lawyers for San Francisco told the court it was 'unfair and unworkable' to hold the city potentially liable for huge fines because of polluted water along Pacific beaches near the city.

When the Supreme Court takes up an important environmental appeal Wednesday from the City of San Francisco, the justices will be asked to settle a dispute that at least some city leaders are desperately hoping to lose.