Court Backs EPA's CWA Power To Block Projects 'Whenever' It Finds Harm

摘要

A federal appeals court has backed EPA's Clean Water Act (CWA) authority to block disposal sites associated with Army Corps of Engineers' permits "whenever" it finds harm, upholding EPA's veto of a West Virginia coal mine after the permit was issued and opening the door to officials taking the unprecedented step of blocking a planned Alaska mine before a permit has been sought. "Section 404 [of the CWA] imposes no temporal limit on the Administrator's authority to withdraw the Corps's [disposal] specification but instead expressly empowers him to prohibit, restrict or withdraw the specification 'whenever 'he makes a determination that the statutory 'unacceptable adverse effect' will result," Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote in the April 23 ruling in Mingo Logan Coal Company v. United States Environmental Protection Agency. The ruling is available on InsideEPA.com.