EPA Details CWA Factors Supporting Denial Of Advocates' Nutrient Petition

摘要

EPA is detailing the "statutory factors" it used in deciding not to substantively respond to environmentalists' petition seeking stringent federal Clean Water Act (CWA) nutrient standards for states in the Mississippi River Basin, arguing that it met an appellate court's "deferential" test for when to refuse to act on a CWA petition. Arguing on EPA's behalf, the Department of Justice (DOJ) in an April 15 brief counters claims by the environmentalist plaintiffs in Gulf Restoration Network (GRN), et al. v. EPA that the agency's denial of their petition was not "grounded in the statute" as prior court rulings have required, and that its later arguments for why the CWA supports it decision amount to "post hoc rationalization." (Doc. ID: 190617) Rather, DOJ says the agency considered and cited six separate statutory factors in its decision that even if a full investigation of conditions in the Mississippi Basin would ultimately show that stringent nutrient limits are needed, it would still be impractical for EPA to craft them given the time and cost needed to develop, litigate and enforce such rules in as many as 31 separate states.