The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to review a case upholding an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pollution reduction plan for the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Supreme Court decision lets stand a ruling in 2015 by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that determined EPA did not overreach it authority in setting a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) plan to regulate pollution runoff in the Chesapeake Bay.
In 2010, EPA issued the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, which was required by the Clean Water Act, according to EPA, setting limits on nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment in the states around the Chesapeake Bay, with goals to be met by 2025.
The lead plaintiff in challenging the TMDL was the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) who filed a petition with the Supreme Court with eight other organizations including the National Chicken Council, USPOULTRY, the National Turkey Federation, National Pork Producers, National Corn Growers Association, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, National Home Builders, and the Fertilizer Institute. Twenty-two states and 92 Members of Congress filed friend-0f-the-court briefs in support of the AFBF petition.
“EPA has asserted the power to sit as a federal zoning board, dictating which land can be farmed and where homes, roads and schools can be built,” said President of the American Farm Bureau Zippy Duvall in a statement. “We remain firm in opposing this unlawful expansion of EPA’s power. We will continue to support state and local programs to improve agriculture’s environmental performance, and we will continue to oppose EPA overreach,” Duvall said.
AFBA also said the Supreme Court decision, one of the first major decisions since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, could have national ramifications as EPA plans to use its Chesapeake Bay TMDL as a blueprint to impose land use control in other major watersheds across the United States.
