First Circuit Court Rules That Pollution Control at Worcester-Area Sewage Treatment Plant Required Without Delay

Degraded Condition of Blackstone River and Narragansett Bay Require Action

Contact:
Anthony Iarrapino, CLF: (802) 223-4014
Tricia Jedele, CLF: (401) 351-2011
Ben Carmichael, CLF: (617) 850-1743

Boston, MA August 6, 2012 – In response to the First Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling upholding the implementation of long-delayed limits on nitrogen and phosphorus pollution discharges from the Upper Blackstone Water Pollution Abatement District’s sewage treatment plant, the largest single discharge source of such pollutants to the Blackstone River and one of the largest sources of pollution to Narragansett Bay, Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) issued the following statement:

“Restoring clean water in the Blackstone River and Narragansett Bay is essential to the quality of life, ecological integrity, and economic prosperity of the communities that share these invaluable waters on both sides of the border,” said Tricia K. Jedele, VP & Director, CLF RI. “Those that pollute these waters must take responsibility by making investments in needed clean water technology before it’s too late to recover the River and the Bay.”

Against the backdrop of detailed findings documenting the dire nutrient-pollution-driven decline of water quality in the river and the Bay – characterized at times by massive fish kills, choking algae blooms and other well-documented harm – the Court affirmed EPA’s position that the federal Clean Water Act does not allow EPA to delay further the requirement of stricter nutrient pollution limits. CLF is encouraged that the Court rejected the delay tactics employed by the District, whose discharge, the court’s ruling notes, “represents approximately seventy percent of the total municipal wastewater flow into the Blackstone River.”

“Even though the Court deferred to EPA’s misjudgment of the science, in this case allowing a weaker pollution limit than is actually needed to avoid further significant harm, CLF applauds the court’s strong affirmation of many core Clean Water Act principles upon which CLF and EPA agree,” said Anthony Iarrapino, clean water program attorney for CLF. “This decision reinforces the urgency of confronting the water pollution that is choking some of the region’s most critical waters, and underscores that delay is not an option. The decision also lends strong support to EPA’s overall approach to cleaning up other degraded New England waters where the science clearly shows stricter limits are required to avoid worsening water quality.”

While CLF joined EPA in successfully opposing the District’s efforts to further delay requirements to reduce pollution from treated wastewater, CLF also had asked the Court to compel EPA to set a stricter nitrogen pollution limit consistent with scientific conclusions and other evidence. The Court acknowledged that at least one comparable sewage treatment plant in Woonsocket, R.I. is upgrading its sewage plant to meet such a stricter nitrogen pollution limit for discharges to the Bay. However, the Court noted that other, smaller facilities in Rhode Island discharging pollution to the same waters were subject to the same weaker limit EPA included in the District’s 2008 permit. The Court ultimately gave broad deference to EPA’s technical judgment based on site-specific evidence in the case.

 

Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) protects New England’s environment for the benefit of all people. Using the law, science and the market, CLF creates solutions that preserve natural resources, build healthy communities, and sustain a vibrant economy region-wide. Founded in 1966, CLF is a nonprofit, member-supported organization with offices in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

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