NY Atty Gen Cuomo Sues Bush EPA over Water Pollution Loophole

[Muttocracy]

ATTORNEY GENERAL CUOMO SUES BUSH EPA OVER WATER POLLUTION LOOPHOLE THAT THREATENS NYS WATERWAYS AND DRINKING WATER

EPA’s New Rule Puts Fishing Industry in Long Island Sound, Lake Champlain, Great Lakes at Risk
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Cuomo Leads Coalition of Nine States to Overturn Illegal Rule

NEW YORK, NY (October 2, 2008) – Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that he is fighting an illegal ruling by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that could hurt New York’s fishing industry and contaminate drinking water. Cuomo is leading a coalition of nine states in suing the EPA for creating an illegal loophole in the federal Clean Water Act by refusing to control the transfer of polluted water from one water body to another.

The introduction of polluted water to another water body causes a host of environmental problems, from harming critical fishing streams to spreading invasive species in the Great Lakes; courts have held that these water transfers require regulation under the Clean Water Act. Despite court rulings, on June 9, 2008, the EPA issued a regulation exempting water transfers from the Clean Water Act’s requirements.

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The EPA’s new illegal Clean Water Act loophole would allow numerous, important sources of pollution to go uncontrolled. For example, sediment-laden water could be sent into clear drinking water reservoirs; chemical-laden waters could be dumped into waters used in farm irrigation; warm waters could be pumped into cold water habitats (such as trout streams); salt water could be transferred into fresh water; and invasive species can be introduced into waters not yet infested.

The EPA’s rule could cause environmental havoc for fishing streams and other water bodies, and prominent New York State and national recreational fishing groups and environmental groups have also challenged the EPA’s illegal rule.

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Today’s challenge was filed in United State District Court for the Southern District of New York, with a companion filing in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Joining Cuomo in the action are the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Washington, and the Government of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. The suit seeks to have the Court invalidate the EPA’s June 9, 2008 regulation and declare the water transfer loophole illegal

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more at http://www.oag.state.ny.us/media_center/2008/oct/oct2b_08.html