OUR CHILDREN’S v. EPA
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in OUR CHILDREN’S v. EPA, No. 05-16214, an appeal in a civil action against the United States. The panel consisted of J. Clifford Wallace, Dorothy W. Nelson, and M. Margaret McKeown, Circuit Judges.
McKEOWN, Circuit Judge:
In 1972 Congress passed the Clean Water Act (”CWA” or “the Act”) “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” See Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (Clean Water Act of 1972), Pub. L. No. 92-500, 86 Stat. 816 (1972), codified at 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a). Central to that legislation and later amendments is the notion that pollution discharges would be controlled through technology-based effluent limitations. Environmental advocates, Our Children’s Earth Foundation and Ecological Rights Foundation (collectively “OCE”), filed this citizen suit under the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., alleging that the Environmental Protection Agency (”EPA” or “the Agency”) has failed to fulfill its mandate to review effluent guidelines and limitations in a timely manner and in accord with technology-based standards. Specifically, OCE claims that EPA violated its statutorily-mandated duties by abandoning technology-based review in favor of hazardbased review; neglecting to identify new polluting sources; . . .