Judge Blocks Sewer Pact, Raising Doubts Over EPA Enforcement Approach

摘要

A federal judge in Ohio has taken the unusual step of denying Justice Department (DOJ) efforts to enter a proposed EPA sewer oveflow pact struck with officials in Akron, OH - a move that raises doubts about federal officials' ability to provide enforcement flexibility in such settlements as an alternative to calls by the nation's mayors for policy revisions. One municipal source says the ruling shows that EPA should address sewer overflow violations in permits rather than the enforceable consent decrees that EPA officials have insisted upon. Judge John Adams of the U. S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, ruled March 17 to deny a DOJ motion to enter a proposed consent decree between EPA and Akron officials that seeks to settle the city's long-standing violations of its Clean Water Act permit due to sewer overflows and other violations.