Judge Rejects ‘Constructive Submission’ Suit Over Delayed Oregon TMDLs

A federal judge has denied environmental groups’ claim that Oregon’s long-standing failure to develop scores of waterbody cleanup plans known as total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) constituted a “constructive submission” to EPA refusing to craft the plans, which would have triggered a duty for federal officials to issue them instead. Senior Judge Marco Hernández of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon issued an Aug. 20 opinion and order in the suit Northwest Environmental Advocates (NWEA) v....