EPA rejects petition on Washington water standards

EPA has quietly rejected a petition filed by environmentalists seeking to strengthen Washington state's water quality standards for three toxic substances, clearing the way for a substantive legal challenge to the agency's denial that will focus on the adequacy of the state's standards. EPA's acting water chief Mike Shapiro last month denied a 2013 petition filed by Northwest Environmental Advocates (NWEA) seeking to an update to the state's Clean Water Act (CWA) water quality criteria for dioxin, arsenic and thallium...