Finding Injury, Court Allows Landmark Suit Targeting 'Impaired Waters' Listing

摘要

A split federal appellate court is allowing property owners to proceed with first-time litigation seeking to challenge EPA's listing of an "impaired water," a pre-regulatory step, after finding that the plaintiffs had standing to sue because they showed that EPA's action contributed to diminished property value. The ruling — allowing the suit to proceed under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) — could provide a new means for property owners to challenge impaired waters listings, raising a new hurdle for EPA and state regulators who use section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act to list hundreds of thousands of waters as impaired before developing pollution control plans, known as total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), for those waters.