EPA's Doubts On Minnesota Discharge Permit Highlight Groundwater Debate

摘要

EPA concerns over Minnesota's preliminary plans to craft a discharge permit for a tailings basin - which the agency says would unlawfully allow discharges for pollutants to surface water in excess of water quality standards (WQS) through groundwater seepage at the basin - illustrate ongoing debate over when such groundwater connections require permit limits. Environmentalists say how the state decides to address EPA's concerns in the final permit is potentially precedent-setting because it could serve as a guide for how regulators can address seepage that leads through underground hydrology to surface waters.