EPA Concerned About Increase in Petitions Seeking to Withdraw State NPDES Authority

摘要

The Environmental Protection Agency is concerned about the growing number of petitions seeking to withdraw the authority of various states to run their own Clean Water Act permit programs, an agency official said. Deborah Nagle, water permits division director in EPA Office of Water, aired the agency's concerns Nov. 20 at a roundtable to discuss "hot topics" facing federal and state regulators at the National Clean Water Law Seminar in St. Petersburg, Fla. She said the EPA has about 19 petitions seeking to withdraw the delegated authority of states to operate their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit programs under Section 402 of the Clean Water Act. "We take these petitions and the allegations in these petitions seriously," Nagle told Bloomberg BNA after the roundtable discussion. She said the EPA reviews every petition to see if the allegations are fact-based.