4th Circuit Reverses Lower Court's Finding Of West Virginia TMDL Failure

摘要

A federal appeals court has overturned a lower court's ruling that West Virginia violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by not crafting cleanup plans for waters with high conductivity, citing an agreement between EPA and the state to develop such plans while avoiding the need to address a controversial judicial doctrine the lower court embraced.The unanimous U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit's June 20 ruling in Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) v. Pruitt acknowledges that EPA may walk away from the agreement - developed after the district court's ruling - which was a concern OVEC raised during May 8 oral argument. "But we credit EPA's assurances that it will make good-faith efforts to continue to implement the Agreement as written to ensure that West Virginia meets the target completion dates," says the ruling.