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Clean Water Report
Copyright 2002 Gale Group Inc. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT 2002 Business
Publishers, Inc.
Monday, July 1, 2002
ISSN: 0009-8620; Volume 40; Issue 13
Waters Can Be Listed as Impaired Exclusively from Nonpoint Sources.
FULL TEXT
Waters contaminated specifically by nonpoint source pollution can be
included in state lists of impaired waters, a federal appeals court has
ruled.
In Pronsolino v. Nastri (No. 00-16026, No. 00-16027), the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said EPA did not exceed its authority
under Sec. 303(d) of the Clean Water Act when it identified the Garcia
River in Northern California as impaired by sedimentation from logging
activities. California had refused to make such a declaration.
Guido Pronsolino and several farm bureaus challenged EPA's authority
to impose total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) on rivers polluted only by
nonpoint sources. The TMDL for the Garcia River required the Pronsolinos
to mitigate 90 percent of the "controllable road-related sediment
runoff" from their logging activities and to limit harvesting during
certain seasons.
The Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies (AMSA) intervened in
the case on EPA's side. Agreeing with EPA and AMSA, the court said,
"Looking at the statute as a whole, we conclude that the EPA's
interpretation of Sec. 303(d) is not only entirely reasonable but
considerably more convincing than the one offered by the plaintiffs in
the case ... Nothing in the statutory structure -- or purpose --
suggests that Congress meant to distinguish ... between waters with one
insignificant point source and substantial nonpoint source pollution and
waters with only nonpoint source pollution."
The ruling "endorses the point source position that nonpoint sources
must be part of the solution to achieve water quality in America," said
Ken Kirk, AMSA's executive director. Contact: Adam Krantz, AMSA, (202)
833-4651.