11th Circuit Judges Question 'Absurdity' Of Alabama NPDES Withdrawal

摘要

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit is questioning the outcome of granting environmentalists' push for EPA to declare Alabama's Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting program deficient and start withdrawal proceedings, with one judge suggesting a strict reading of the law could lead to "absurd" results.Attorneys for both environmentalists and EPA tried to focus their recent oral arguments in Cahaba Riverkeeper v. EPA on the amount discretion EPA has in responding to a state's documented permitting program deficiencies. Environmentalists are urging the court to require EPA to reconsider their allegations that the state's permitting program violates the CWA and is therefore subject to automatic withdrawal proceedings.But the judges seemed concerned about the environmental and other effects if EPA is forced to take on National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting not only in Alabama but potentially dozens of other states that have similar deficiencies.