Advocates' Novel Suit Aims To Force EPA Consultations For Water Criteria

摘要

Environmentalists are pursuing a novel lawsuit that aims to force EPA and federal wildlife services to finally craft procedures for consulting on Endangered Species Act (ESA) impacts of Clean Water Act (CWA) policies, by imposing deadlines for long-stalled consultations on a Washington water rule that could guide future consultations. The advocates hope that whatever procedures regulators adopt to finish the still-pending consultations over water quality criteria in Washington can be applied to the slew of other ESA actions water regulators have been unable to finish across the United States. In turn, crafting such procedures could help regulators achieve a years-old yet still pending inter-agency agreement to develop a plan for coordinating on reviews of CWA actions.