EPA Says D.C. Circuit Labor Ruling Backs Policy On CWA 'Blending' Case

摘要

EPA says a new U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruling in a labor dispute backs the agency's policy that it is not required to implement nationwide an 8th Circuit ruling limiting EPA's Clean Water Act (CWA) power to regulate wastewater facilities' "blending" of partially and fully treated waste. In an Oct. 5 letter to the D.C. Circuit, the Department of Justice (DOJ) on EPA's behalf points to a Sept. 30 decision, handed down by a divided three-judge panel, as supporting the general principle of "intercircuit nonacquiescence" under which agencies do not have to abide by adverse rulings from an appellate court in states outside of that court's jurisdiction. However, the 2-1 decision in Heartland Plymouth Court MI, LLC v. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) addressed labor law claims rather than a CWA claim.