D.C. Circuit Reinstates EPA’s Perchlorate Drinking Water Determination

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has revived EPA’s 2011 determination that Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) regulation of the common contaminant perchlorate is necessary, scrapping its Trump-era withdrawal and setting a novel precedent that the agency lacks authority to roll back SDWA regulatory determinations. In a split decision issued May 9 , a three-judge D.C. Circuit panel agreed with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that EPA’s withdrawal of the Obama-era perchlorate determination was unlawful,...