EPA is warning that an industry-sought ruling on the merits in a landmark lawsuit over whether concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) must seek discharge permits for air releases of feathers and dust into regulated waters will spur "unending" litigation that will necessitate case-by-case determinations of when water permits are needed. Instead, the agency is urging the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia to defer to EPA's Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations and prior court precedent on the scope of the agency's exemption for agricultural stormwater, arguing that industry's reading would exclude any CAFO pollutant carried to a federal waterbody by rainfall. EPA argues in an Aug. 1 memorandum filed in support of its cross motion for summary judgment in Lois Alt, et al. v. EPA that industry's interpretation that a West Virginia poultry farm meets the bar for the agricultural stormwater exemption ignores precedent deferring to agency regulations and offers no limits for a possible ruling on the scope of the exclusion. Relevant documents are available on InsideEPA.com. See page 2 for details. (Doc ID: 2443241)
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