Environmentalists Eye Rare Order To Force EPA Action On Puget Sound

A Pacific Northwest environmental group is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to issue a rare writ of mandamus to force EPA to respond to the group’s petition seeking the withdrawal of Washington state’s delegated Clean Water Act (CWA) permitting program, and to require stricter discharge limits in Puget Sound. The newly filed petition from Northwest Environmental Advocates (NWEA) comes in the wake of the 9th Circuit’s mandamus ruling earlier this year that forced EPA...