Environmentalists Cite EPA CWA Rule's Flaws In Push For Partial Vacatur

摘要

Environmentalists are citing "narrow but significant" flaws in EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers' Clean Water Act (CWA) jurisdiction rule in their call for a federal appeals court to vacate parts of the regulation that they say fail to adequately protect U.S. waters, including an exclusion from jurisdiction for certain waterbodies. "Although the Rule generally reflects both the prevailing law and science, it departs from those foundations in narrow but significant ways, by excluding or inadequately protecting certain waters that otherwise meet the legal and scientific standards that the Agencies and the law have identified as prerequisites for protection," says a coalition of environmental groups in a Nov. 1 merits brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. Relevant documents are available on InsideEPA.com. (Doc. ID: 195985) The groups - Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), One Hundred Miles, National Wildlife Federation, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Sierra Club, and the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League- support the rule's attempt to clarify CWA jurisdiction but are arguing that it should cover even more waters.