Gas Drillers Raise Constitutional Challenge To SDWA Emergency Order

摘要

A natural gas drilling company in Texas is mounting a constitutional challenge to EPA's novel use of its emergency drinking water cleanup authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in a set of landmark legal disputes seeking to nullify the agency's attempts to enforce its determination that the drilling operations have contaminated two drinking water wells. EPA's interpretation of its SDWA authority to issue emergency orders to force drillers to clean up suspected drinking water contamination appears to be headed toward debate in Congress, and Republican lawmakers have vowed oversight as several legal challenges to the agency's application of the drinking water law work their way through federal courts.