Oral arguments will be heard October 4, 2012, in federal district court in Harrisburg, Penn., in the lawsuit against the U.S. EPA by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Home Builders Association, and other plaintiffs over the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) pollution-reduction plan. The suit by the Farm Bureau and its Pennsylvania affiliate—filed January 10, 2011—alleges that the EPA exceeded its authority, used inaccurate or inadequate scientific information, and followed too short a regulatory timetable in developing the TMDL, which the agency issued in December 2010. The U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, the National Chicken Council, and the Fertilizer Institute have joined the suit in support of the Farm Bureau. Various groups—including the he National Association of Clean Water Agencies, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Defenders of Wildlife, and the National Wildlife Foundation—have sought to intervene on the side of the EPA. Source: “Court Hearing on Bay TMDL Set for Oct. 4,” Bay Journal, September 2012, p.10. For a previous Water Central News Grouper post, please see Groups Seek to Intervene in Bay TMDL Lawsuit by Farm Bureau, 5/27/11.
Below: Chesapeake Bay, looking north from Cape Charles, Virginia, Oct. 6., 2007.
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