TMDL Draws Lawsuit from Farmers

On December 29, 2010, EPA issued a first-of-its-kind TMDL for the Chesapeake Bay.  The TMDL, which stands for “Total Maximum Daily Load,” establishes a “pollution budget” for Pennsylvania and other states that contribute surface water flows to the Chesapeake Bay.  Pennsylvania, in turn, also recently produced a “Watershed Implementation Plan” describing how the Commonwealth intends to allocate the nutrient reductions required to meet the goals of the TMDL.

 

Because EPA has been critical of Pennsylvania’s enforcement efforts against non-point sources of nutrient flows, mainly agriculture, EPA’s TMDL focuses on agricultural compliance.  The agricultural interests reacted to the TMDL quickly.  On January 10, 2011, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau filed an action against the EPA in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.  In its suit, the Farm Bureaus challenge EPA’s TMDL as arbitrary and capricious, lacking in public notice and comment required by the Administrative Procedure Act, and contend that the TMDL violates the Clean Water Act and the EPA’s own regulations.  The Farm Bureaus also argue that EPA exceeded its delegated statutory authority under the Clean Water Act when it prepared the Chesapeake Bay TMDL.  The Farm Bureaus seek declaratory relief and request that the Court vacate the TMDL and enjoin EPA (and perhaps by extension, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection) from enforcing, applying or implementing the TMDL.


A copy of the Complaint in .pdf format can be obtained by clicking here.

 

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