Nitrogen lawsuits may be over - settlement reached

Buzzards Bay Coalition, Conservation Law Foundation statements

Groups ask court for 120 days to iron the details of proposed settlement

Salon called it "Triumph of the Flat Earth Republicans."The Buzzards Bay Coalition (BBC) and Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) announced today that they had reached an agreement in principle with EPA to settle a pair of lawsuits aimed at cleaning up nitrogen pollution on Cape Cod.

The New Bedford-based Buzzards Bay Coalition and CLF brought the first of two federal lawsuits in August 2010 to expedite a solution to a growing wastewater problem that is turning the Cape's fragile bays and estuaries -- including upper Cape treasures like West Falmouth Harbor -- into slimy, algae-choked dead zones. The groups entered into mediation with EPA in September 2011.

In a statement, CLF's Christopher Kilian said;

“We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement in principle with EPA to settle the Section 208 and Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) lawsuits aimed at cleaning up nitrogen pollution on Cape Cod,” said Christopher Kilian, vice president and director of Conservation Law Foundation’s Clean Water and Healthy Forests program.

He added, “We have filed a motion for an additional 120 day stay of the two cases and will report to the Court on our efforts to set the details down in writing within 90 days. Due to the ongoing nature of the negotiations, we will not comment on the agreement, but will focus instead on concluding the mediation in the proposed time frame.”

Congressional attack on EPA authority

GOP Congressmen accused EPA of settling “activist lawsuits” like CLF’s as a “tactic for backdoor regulation."The two lawsuits are at the center of an attack by a group of Congressional Republicans seeking to limit EPA’s authority and advance their anti-environment agenda.

A letter from House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL), Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Member James Inhofe (R-OK), House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Bob Gibbs (R-OH), and Senate Water and Wildlife Subcommittee Ranking Member Jeff Sessions (R-AL) was sent to EPA Administrator Jackson today (see full text here) accusing EPA of settling “activist lawsuits” like CLF’s as a “tactic for backdoor regulation.”

Conservation Law Foundation respond to Republicans

“It is our experience that EPA has been a formidable opponent in clean water cases, and to imply that the agency is colluding with environmental organizations to expand its own authority is preposterous,” said Christopher Kilian, director of Conservation Law Foundation’s Clean Water and Healthy Forests program.

He added, “These are complicated cases, made more so by developing science and changing environmental stressors, and it is never an easy road to reach a resolution. The real issue is whether the parties are acting in the best interest of those who rely on the resource for their health and well-being. These Congressional leaders seem to suggest that EPA should take a hard line against the interests of citizens and the environment and protect the rights of polluters.”