Riverkeeper, Inc. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency: Applying the Clean Water Act's Best Technology Available Standard to Existing Cooling Systems

摘要

Though courts invariably struggle to find the proper balance of agency oversight and deference, Riverkeeper Ⅱ appropriately limits judicial deference. In this case, the Second Circuit held that the BTA standard, like the BAT standard, prohibits cost-benefit analysis and remanded the Phase Ⅱ regulations to the EPA to verify that its determinations were not improperly influenced by cost-benefit considerations. In reviewing future EPA regulations promulgated under ambiguous sections of the Clean Water Act, courts should continue to demand that the agency meet the congressional technology-forcing intent.