Green Groups Sue Biden EPA Over Industrial Water Pollution Failures

A coalition of 13 green groups on Tuesday sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for failing to set limits on harmful chemicals that petroleum-based industries dump into the nation's waterways on a daily basis.

"The Clean Water Act requires the EPA to limit discharges of industrial pollutants based on the best available wastewater treatment methods, and to tighten those limits at least once every five years where data show treatment technologies have improved," two of the plaintiffs, the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), explained in a joint statement.

However, the organizations lamented, "the agency has never set limits for many pollutants and has failed to update the few decades-old limits that exist—including limits set almost 40 years ago for oil refineries (1985), plastics manufacturers (1984), and fertilizer plants (1986)."

"Despite the legal mandate for regular reviews and updates to keep pace with technology, the guidelines for 40 of 59 industries regulated by the EPA were last updated 30 or more years ago, with 17 of those dating back to the 1970s," they added. "Outdated standards mean more water pollution is pouring into U.S. waters than should be allowed because some plants are using technology standards from the Reagan era—before common use of the Internet, email, or cellphones."

In 2021 alone, the 81 oil refineries in the U.S. that discharge into rivers, streams, and estuaries released 1.6 billion pounds of chlorides, sulfates, and other dissolved solids harmful to aquatic life; 15.7 million pounds of algae-feeding nitrogen; 60,000 pounds of selenium, which can cause mutations in fish; and other toxins, including cyanide, petrochemicals like benzene, and heavy metals such as arsenic, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, and zinc, according to a report published in January by EIP, a watchdog founded by former EPA enforcement attorneys.

In addition, "21 nitrogen fertilizer plants discharged 7.7 million pounds of total nitrogen, which causes algae blooms and fish-killing 'dead-zones,' and proposed new plants will add millions of additional pounds to that load," EIP and CBD noted on Tuesday. "The EPA estimates that 229 inorganic chemical plants dumped over 2 billion pounds of pollution into waterways in 2019."

Tuesday's lawsuit against the Biden administration was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco. EIP, which coordinated the action, was joined by CBD, Clean Water Action, Waterkeeper Alliance, Food & Water Watch, Environment America, Bayou City Waterkeeper, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Healthy Gulf, San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, San Francisco Baykeeper, the Surfrider Foundation, and Tennessee Riverkeeper.

"No one should get a free pass to pollute... We expect EPA to do its job and protect America's waterways and public health as required by the Clean Water Act."

According to EIP and CBD, the suit challenges the EPA's refusal in January to update its "outdated and weak water pollution control technology standards (called 'effluent limitation guidelines' or ELGs and pretreatment standards) for seven key industrial sectors: petroleum refineries, inorganic and organic chemical manufacturers, and factories that manufacture plastics, fertilizer, pesticides, and nonferrous metals."

Hannah Connor, environmental health deputy director at CBD, said that "for decades the EPA has let these dirty industries pollute our rivers and bays instead of making them keep pace with advances in technologies that tackle water pollution, as the Clean Water Act demands."

"Forcing people and wildlife like endangered Atlantic sturgeon to bear the weight of toxic water pollution while industries rake in record profits isn't just morally wrong, it's also legally indefensible," Connor added. "The EPA needs to bring pollution standards into the 21st century."

In the words of EIP deputy director Jen Duggan, "No one should get a free pass to pollute."

"It's completely unacceptable that EPA has, for decades, ignored the law and failed to require modern wastewater pollution controls for oil refineries and petrochemical and plastics plants," said Duggan. "We expect EPA to do its job and protect America's waterways and public health as required by the Clean Water Act."