Environment
New Hampshire today challenged a Bush Administration rule to increase pollution
in U.S.
rivers, lakes, and streams.
In
a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Environment
New Hampshire, Environment Rhode Island, Environment Florida, and Environment
America, seek to set aside the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s June 13 water
transfer rule. Under the new rule,
polluters would be able to transfer water contaminated with toxic chemicals,
sewage, invasive species, or other pollutants into a clean waterway without first
obtaining, or then complying with, a Clean Water Act discharge permit.
“The
Bush Administration’s rule will increase pollution in America’s
waterways,” said Erika Staaf, Environment New Hampshire’s Advocate. “By exempting the pumping of polluted water into
another waterway from the Clean Water Act, the Bush Administration has again
undermined one of the nation’s core environmental laws.”
The types of water transfers subject to EPA’s new exemption can
degrade water quality in a variety of ways, and can have serious environmental and
economic consequences. For example, such
transfers can channel contaminated waters into waterways used for swimming,
fishing, or drinking, or allow the intermixing of waters with radically
different fundamental characteristics (such as salinity, turbidity, or temperature).
Environment
New Hampshire
believes that the only meaningful way to regulate and mitigate the
environmental impacts of water transfers is to ensure they are covered by the
Clean Water Act’s permit program. Environment America, other
national, state, and local environmental organizations, and 13 state attorneys
general opposed the rule when EPA proposed it in 2006.
Prior to
EPA finalizing the rule, U.S. Courts of Appeal in the First, Second, and
Eleventh Circuits had ruled squarely that water transfers are regulated under
the Clean Water Act’s permit program.
“EPA once
again listened to the special interests and finalized a rule that puts the
environment and public health in danger,” said Christy Leavitt, Environment
America’s Clean Water Advocate. “We are
challenging the rule in court to ensure that our clean waterways stay clean.”
Environment
New Hampshire
and the other plaintiffs in the case are represented by the National
Environmental Law Center (NELC), a non-profit organization dedicated to upholding
anti-pollution laws.
