The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and its allies have been granted an extension to file a petition by November 6 to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn two lower court decisions upholding the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint.
AFBF General Counsel Ellen Steen said she would expect the Supreme Court to make a decision on whether or not it will hear the case in late winter of 2016.
The case began in 2010, following the EPA’s release of the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) with targets for reductions of nutrient and sediment runoff from six states and the District of Columbia. Each state was required to develop its own plan to meet the goals. However, EPA has also stepped in and made specific requirements within the plan. “EPA could assign nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment limits for each farm, home site, or even each acre of undeveloped land across the countryside,” according to AFBF.
Steen noted the groups are not trying to have the entire cleanup plan invalidated, but rather how EPA has carved up the allowable solutions among different activities and sources. Steen said as new information and technology becomes available, states do not have the discretion to change over time what can be used to meet pollution reduction goals without EPA approving those changes. “In the end, this creates a bureaucratic process that is not flexible or adaptable that doesn’t allow states to most effectively and efficiently achieve the goals in the long run.”
In arguing for states’ rights in previous appeals, AFBF explained a ruling removing the challenged EPA source limits or “allocations” from the TMDL “would in no way impair the ability of any state to achieve those objectives. It would only allow them the freedom – as Congress intended – to set different allocations and deadlines, if they so choose.”
Twenty-one states filed support in the last appeal brought by the American Farm Bureau Federation, National Chicken Council, USPOULTRY, National Turkey Federation, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, The Fertilizer Institute, National Pork Producers Council, National Corn Growers Association, and the National Association of Home Builders.
