LANDMARK APPELLATE RULING ALLOWS GROUPS TO SUE FOR CLEAN WATER DATA

A federal appeals court has for the first time clearly stated that environmental groups have standing to sue dischargers to disclose monitoring and reporting data under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The Nov. 1 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit is "critically important" to citizens' ability to enforce the CWA, an environmental attorney familiar with the case says, noting that the CWA permitting program is a self-monitoring system. "We think it is an important victory...