EPA Sends Final Rule to OMB to Exempt Logging Roads From NPDES Permitting

摘要

The Environmental Protection Agency has sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget a final rule exempting logging roads from pollution discharge permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act. The action came about three weeks before oral argument is scheduled to occur at the U.S. Supreme Court as timber and forest product companies, state officials, and others seek the overturning of an appeals court ruling requiring federal permits for stormwater runoff from logging roads whenever the water is channeled in any way (Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center, U.S., No. 11-338, respondent brief filed 10/16/12; 43 ER 2725, 10/26/12).