Environment
News Service: June 4, 2002
http://ens-news.com/
Appeals
Court Upholds Water Pollution Rule
SAN FRANCISCO, California, June 4, 2002 (ENS) - A federal appeals
court has ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and the states have the authority to identify and manage
U.S. waterways that are polluted by runoff.
The
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco upheld
a landmark district court ruling that upholds the EPA's and states'
authority to identify which U.S. waterways are polluted by runoff
from urban areas, agriculture and timber harvesting, and to identify
the maximum amount of pollutants that may enter these waterways.
The
opinion by Ninth Circuit Court Judge Marsha Berzon on behalf of
a three judge panel affirms the comprehensive scope of the Clean
Water Act's Total Maximum Daily Load program. A TMDL defines the
greatest amount of a particular pollutant that can be introduced
into a waterway without exceeding the river's water quality standard.
The
appeals court said the district court ruled correctly that Congress
intended to include non-point source pollution in the Clean Water
Act's water quality standards and planning program.
"This
decision affirms our efforts to continue using a strong tool to
help restore America's rivers and clean up pollution, regardless
of its source," said Wayne Nastri, EPA regional administrator
for the Pacific southwest. "Nonpoint source pollution is
the dominant water quality problem in the United States today."
When
the EPA developed a TMDL for sediment entering the Garcia River
in 1998, the American Farm Bureau Federation and other agriculture
and timber groups sued, claiming that the EPA and state should
calculate TMDLs only for pollutants that are discharged from pipes,
or other so called point sources.
Although
salmon and steelhead once flourished in the Garcia River in Mendocino
County, California, sediment from forestry operations has prevented
the river from supporting healthy fish.
The
District Court and now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected
that argument, holding that the Clean Water Act is designed to
provide a comprehensive solution to the nation's water quality
problems, without regard to the sources of pollution. The Appeals
Court held that "the Clean Water Act is best read to include
in the (waterbody) listing and TMDL requirements waters impaired
only by nonpoint sources of pollution" in addition to waters
impaired by point sources.
In
California, just one percent of polluted waterways fail to meet
water quality standards solely because of pollution that comes
from pipes, municipal waste treatment works, or other point sources.
EPA data shows that 54 percent of California's contaminated waterways
are polluted only by non-point sources, while another 45 percent
are impaired by a combination of point and nonpoint sources.
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