Environment and Ecology Research Vol. 6(4), pp. 211 - 217
DOI: 10.13189/eer.2018.060401
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A Review of Issues on Water Quality Arising from a Florida Court Case on EPA's Proposed Water Quality Standards and Its Implications on Water Quality Guidelines Beyond the State of Florida

Kenneth G. Oertel ^*
Law Firm of Oertel, Fernandez, Bryant & Atkinson, P.A., USA

ABSTRACT

In July 2008, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was sued by an environmental public interest group, Earthjustice, over the manner in which Florida regulated nutrients through its water quality regulatory program. The suit accused EPA of being lax in allowing Florida to apply a water quality standard to control the discharge of nutrients into waters of the United States which was ineffective to achieve an adequate control of nutrients. The suit demanded that EPA take action to adapt and impose its own rule to control the discharge of nutrients in Florida. EPA decided not to defend itself in this lawsuit. Instead it issued a finding that a stronger, more stringent and objective water standard should be adopted for Florida. EPA settled the case with Earthjustice in August 2009 and entered into a consent decree with the Plaintiff which committed EPA to adopt numeric nutrient criteria for the State of Florida. EPA then, through its plenary powers under the Clean Water Act (CWA), proposed to adopt a numerical nutrient discharge regulation to supersede Florida's existing regulations. EPA's regulations were published in the Federal Register as a predicate to final adoption. EPA's action stimulated a host of legal challenges from the State of Florida itself and a large array of municipal, utility, industrial, agricultural and other interested entities. The litigation was heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, and resulted in the bulk of EPA's proposed regulations being disallowed by that Court. The Court's decision was based upon a lack of a demonstrated relationship between EPA's proposed discharge concentrations and a negative response within the receiving waters. EPA failed to show its rule set the correct standards to prevent harm to the receiving waters. The Court's decision stands for the proposition that since the CWA stands for the protection of the "integrity" of the Nation's waters, limitations on discharges must be determined on what will actually cause harm to the receiving waters.

KEYWORDS
Pollutant, Necessity Determination, Eutrophic, Oligotrophic, Biological Nutrient Removal, Clean Water Act

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Kenneth G. Oertel , "A Review of Issues on Water Quality Arising from a Florida Court Case on EPA's Proposed Water Quality Standards and Its Implications on Water Quality Guidelines Beyond the State of Florida," Environment and Ecology Research, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 211 - 217, 2018. DOI: 10.13189/eer.2018.060401.

(b). APA Format:
Kenneth G. Oertel (2018). A Review of Issues on Water Quality Arising from a Florida Court Case on EPA's Proposed Water Quality Standards and Its Implications on Water Quality Guidelines Beyond the State of Florida. Environment and Ecology Research, 6(4), 211 - 217. DOI: 10.13189/eer.2018.060401.