Ohio has reversed course on its prior decision not to include the open waters of Lake Erie in its 2016 impaired waters listing following an April 11 ruling by Judge James G. Carr of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. The decision criticized the maneuvering of US EPA and Ohio EPA … Continue Reading
US EPA recently approved Ohio’s 2016 list of impaired waters not meeting water quality goals which did not list the open waters of the Western Basin of Lake Erie as impaired. A coalition of environmental and conservation groups had recently filed lawsuits to force US EPA action on Ohio’s proposed listing in both the D.C. … Continue Reading
A coalition of environmental and conservation groups have given US EPA notice of their intent to sue over the Agency’s failure to timely review Ohio’s and Michigan’s biennial impaired waters listings. Under §303(d)(2) of the Clean Water Act (CWA), US EPA is required to approve or disapprove a state’s proposed list of impaired waters not … Continue Reading
The Des Moines Water Works (DMWW) recently filed suit against several Iowa drainage districts for discharging excess nitrate pollution through groundwater in subsurface agricultural drainage systems into the Raccoon River, which DMWW relies upon to provide drinking water for approximately 500,000 Iowans. As previously reported here, the lawsuit seeks to hold these drainage districts liable … Continue Reading
The Des Moines Water Works (DMWW) recently issued a notice of intent (NOI) to sue three County Board of Supervisors that oversee several drainage districts reportedly responsible for excessive nitrate pollution being discharged from groundwater in subsurface agricultural drainage systems into the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers. Recent sampling efforts by DMWW have indicated nitrate … Continue Reading
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has set oral argument for November 18, 2014 in American Farm Bureau Federation, et al. v. US EPA, an appeal of a September 13, 2013 district court decision upholding US EPA’s December 2010 total maximum daily load (TMDL) limits for the Chesapeake Bay. As we previously … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, 21 states and a group of 8 counties filed amicus briefs with the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit supporting the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and other agricultural groups challenging USEPA’s December 2010 total maximum daily load (TMDL) for the Chesapeake Bay. At issue is the September 13, 2013 opinion of … Continue Reading
