‘Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged a non-discretionary duty by the EPA to review the SWRCB orders at issue,’ the Court rules
From Kate Poole at the NRDC:
“During the last three years of California’s drought, the state and federal agencies charged with protecting fishable, swimmable, and drinkable water quality for all Californians have utterly failed to do their job. The results have been disastrous: more toxic algae blooms are infecting California’s waterways than ever before; at least 35 plants and animals native to the San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem are perched on the edge of extinction; and thousands of salmon fishermen up and down the coast are uncertain whether they’ll be able to pursue their livelihood for years to come.
Today, in a victory for the public’s interest in clean drinking water and healthy rivers, a federal district court judge rejected the lawlessness of these agencies, and put the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and California’s State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) on notice that they must comply with the Clean Water Act. The court ruled that EPA failed to establish that the multiple waivers of water quality standards issued by the State Board during the drought—waivers which have devastated water quality and the ecosystem in the Bay-Delta—do not “qualify as ‘revisions’ to the water quality standards in the EPA-approved 1995 Bay-Delta Plan” that trigger EPA’s mandatory review. EPA refused to review these changes to ensure that the waivers protect the important values of the Clean Water Act—fishable, swimmable, and drinkable water. … ”
Click here to continue reading from the NRDC: Court affirms need to protect water quality even in a drought.
Click here to read the court ruling.
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