Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters appear to be beyond federal regulation, leading to rising pollution rates and restricting the Clean Water Act, The New York Times reports.
The Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by the act, so some businesses are claiming the law no longer applies to them. The rulings have led to widespread uncertainty for the Environmental Protection Agency and state regulators. From The Times:
The Clean Water Act was intended to end dangerous water pollution by regulating every major polluter. But today, regulators may be unable to prosecute as many as half of the nation’s largest known polluters because officials lack jurisdiction or because proving jurisdiction would be overwhelmingly difficult or time consuming, according to midlevel officials.
“We are, in essence, shutting down our Clean Water programs in some states,” said Douglas F. Mundrick, an E.P.A. lawyer in Atlanta. “This is a huge step backward. When companies figure out the cops can’t operate, they start remembering how much cheaper it is to just dump stuff in a nearby creek.”
