'Thousands' Could Evade Permits If EPA Groundwater Stance Prevails

摘要

Former EPA officials are urging the Supreme Court to reject the Trump administration's newly crafted position that pollution in groundwater can never be subject to Clean Water Act (CWA) requirements, saying it contradicts existing agency policies and, if endorsed by the court, could leave pollution from "thousands" of dischargers unregulated. In a pair of amicus briefs in County of Maui v. Hawai 'i Wildlife Fund, et al., a bipartisan group of three former EPA administrators and a group of seven former agency regional and water officials who served in Democratic administra-tions say that until a few months ago, EPA had for decades interpreted the C WA to allow for regulation of point source discharges that pass through hydrologically connected groundwater to jurisdictional surface water. This interpretation has been articulated in several regulatory preambles, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit writers' manuals, and other guidance documents, the former officials say. As a result, the agency, and many states with delegated CWA authority, have regulated such discharges in both general and individual NPDES permits, and brought enforcement action against entities that make such discharges without a permit.