Court Finds Citizens Lack CWA Power To Force Strict State Enforcement

A federal district court has rejected environmentalists’ Clean Water Act (CWA) suit aiming to force Massachusetts to take enforcement action against local authorities they say are violating discharge permits, holding while EPA could take such a step, citizen groups lack that power under provisions of the law that aim to “curb excessive litigation.” In a Feb. 17 ruling , Judge Richard Stearns of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts held that only EPA can take legal action...