SPILL RULING MAY UP PRESSURE FOR EPA RULEMAKING ON WATER ACT SCOPE

摘要

A landmark ruling from a federal district court late last month may ramp up pressure on EPA to begin a rulemaking defining the reach of the Clean Water Act for permitting because the court rejected EPA's regulatory definition of "navigable waters" in the agency's rule for preventing oil spills, a definition regulators also use to permit wetlands activities and wastewater discharges. The March 31 ruling, American Petroleum Institute and Marathon Oil v. Johnson et al, comes as EPA is already grappling with whether to revise or withdraw a joint guidance issued with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the scope of water act permit requirements for wetlands. Many industry officials and environmentalists have warned that the guidance fails to provide regulatory certainty and could be subject to a facial legal challenge, but federal officials have so far been reluctant to initiate a rulemaking.