Western Governors Urge EPA to Appeal Remand of Rule Exempting Water Transfers

摘要

The Western Governors Association joined the Western States Water Council in urging the Environmental Protection Agency to appeal a federal district court ruling that remanded a rule exempting water transfers from Clean Water Act discharge permits. In a May 12 letter, the executive directors of both state groups told EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy that Western states often have to transfer billions of gallons of water often located in the wrong spot to satisfy agricultural, domestic, and industrial demands. "Requiring NPDES permits for these transfers will be prohibitively expensive, technically impractical and could compel the curtailment of certain transfers, with little if any water quality benefits," they wrote. At issue is the March 28 decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that remanded to the EPA the 2008 rule under 40 C.F.R. 122.3 (i) that allowed a permanent exemption from the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program for transferred water that has been conveyed without being subjected to intervening industrial, municipal or commercial use (Catskill Mountains Chapter of Trout Unlimited Inc. v. EPA, , S.D.N.Y., 2014 BL 85388, No. 08-CV-5606, 3/28/14; 45 ER 1000, 4/4/14).