Environmentalists Resist EPA's Court Bid To Kill Controversial TMDL Theory

摘要

Environmentalists are seeking to preserve a lower court ruling that upheld the controversial judicial doctrine that requires EPA to develop cleanup plans for impaired waters when states decline to act, pushing back on a recent Justice Department (DOJ) effort to kill the doctrine or at least limit its reach. In a May 10 brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Columbia Riverkeeper, et al. v. Wheeler, environmentalists urge the court to reject EPA's attempt to overturn a ruling mandating the quick development of a cleanup plan for the Columbia and Snake rivers, saying the district court correctly followed judicial precedent that upheld a controversial legal theory on when the agency must craft a total maximum daily load (TMDL).