TRENTON — Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal today joined a coalition of Attorneys General in suing to block a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) final rule that unlawfully restricts the authority of states to protect their waters from pollution.
For more than three decades, the EPA has consistently acknowledged that Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act provides states with the authority to exercise oversight of federally permitted projects such as pipelines, industrial plants and hydroelectric dams, among others. Under that recognized authority, states could review, impose conditions on, or deny certification for such federally approved projects.
However, as directed by President Trump in an Executive Order issued in April 2019, EPA has now issued a final rule radically altering its water quality certification regulations to restrict states’ authority under the Clean Water Act.
Filed today in U.S. District Court in California, today’s lawsuit asserts that the new rule must be vacated because it unlawfully limits the ability of the states to protect precious wetlands and waterways within their own borders, violates the Clean Water Act and runs afoul of the federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
“The federal government is taking unprecedented steps to stop states from fulfilling our important duties to prevent the pollution of our waters,” said Attorney General Grewal. “Under the Clean Water Act, as interpreted by bipartisan administrations for decades, states have always played a key role in standing up for our waters and our wetlands. This EPA is trying to strip away our ability to do so, which is why we’re taking them to court. The fight to protect our environment continues.”
“I am proud of the work that New Jersey has done to protect its environment and public health and I am proud to support the lawsuit with Attorney General Grewal against this final rule,” said New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine R McCabe. “Together, we can assert every states’ right to protect their waters, their people and their future.”
Through the plain language of the Clean Water Act, Congress established its intent to “recognize, preserve, and protect the primary responsibilities and rights of states to prevent, reduce, and eliminate pollution” of waters within their borders. Under Section 401 of the statute, a project requiring federal approval that may result in discharges into the waters of the United States must obtain state certification confirming that the project meets state water quality standards and other appropriate requirements of state law.
The projects requiring Section 401 certification range from housing and commercial land development to hydropower and pipeline construction. The certification process ensures an adequate assessment of the impacts of proposed projects, as well as the imposition of conditions required to prevent or remedy such impacts.
On July 13, 2020, the EPA issued a final rule arbitrarily re-writing existing water quality certification regulations to limit state authority under the Clean Water Act, including by limiting the kinds of conditions the states can place on projects. Among other things, the rules prohibit states from placing any new requirements relating to nonpoint sources of pollution, such as construction debris and sedimentation, which could nonetheless impact water quality. Today’s lawsuit alleges that the rule will impair states’ ability to fully and efficiently review project proposals for water quality impacts, while at the same time making it more difficult for states to fulfill their fundamental duty to protect their waters.
In the lawsuit, the coalition argues that the EPA’s drastic curtailment of state authority under Section 401 is unlawful because it is contrary to:
- The plain language, structure, purpose, and history of the Clean Water Act;
- Binding Supreme Court precedent interpreting Section 401; and
- The EPA’s prior guidance, which spans decades and multiple administrations.
In 2019, Attorney General Grewal joined multi-state coalitions in filing comment letters opposing the EPA’s prior unlawful guidance and proposed rule eroding state authority under the Clean Water Act.
In filing today’s lawsuit, Attorney General Grewal joins the Attorneys General of California, New York, Washington, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.
Hey Grewal fill it with regular and don’t forget to wash the windshield.
John Patrick Butler racist as fuck wow !
If anyone wants a water conditioning system for their sink my step-father has the best equipment on hand to save you money on pure water filtration systems.
Truth be told!
Stop the politicking
Trump 2020
WWG1WGA ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Susan Gruen Carlock
Vicki Tartas
You sound like you need Trump to grab you by the pussy!
Vote Red ????????????????????????????????????????WWG1WGA
Susan Gruen Carlock
Richard Ramirez he’s much better huh ????????♀️
Gina Marie He lives in Seaside Heights that says a lot!
Janice Westervelt Young who? Lol
Yet this same attorney general allows the Hasidic community to slaughter hundreds of thousands of chickens every year in Sept. and allows the blood to be washed into local storm water basins and into the ground. So really dummy
Craig Saltarelli & don’t forget the makeshift dump behind the old jamesway on rt 9 that runs right into the metedocnk river.
there has been consistent overturn of all kinds of environmental law for the hassidiac developers too. you can get on njdep dataminer and see it. mccabe and grewal…perfect together for special interests groups to get away with environmental suicide. this is a joke. too little too late
POS
TRUMP 2020
You will loose!
I’m just surprised you guys are all mad that he wants us to have clean water. Y’all sound stupid
I’m not surprised that you can’t see past the marketting and think this is actually about “clean water”. These are corporate shakedowns using regulatory nonsense instead of legislation, pure and simple. Just like the tobacco lawsuits, just expliting the opioid crisis to go after Dr’s, legal patients, and pharma companies (all have insurance) instead of the drug dealers that actually kill people, just like gun control of the law abiding while letting criminals out of jail………it’s a shell game.
This is just another reason to steal money from businesses (which raises prices) to fund their bloated budgets, and the EPA called theri bluff so they are upset about it.
FOLLOW THE MONEY and you will always find the reality of it.
You and others in State Gov’t can’t protect us from crime and want to defund the police but you want to sue the Federal Gov’t? Aren’t there other issues in this State.that need attending to as well??
Fly away
Go ahead, spend OUR last dime suing a clown who routinely ignores the court “system”