On October 2, 2008, nine US states and the Canadian province of Manitoba sued the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), alleging that an EPA regulation allowed the discharge of polluted waters in violation of the Clean Water Act. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and specifically challenged the agency's Water Transfer Rule, which allowed polluted water transferred from one body of water to another to be exempted from permitting requirements under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The complaint claimed that the regulation exceeded the EPA's statutory authority and was arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion.

Learn more about the Clean Water Act and the EPA from the JURIST news archive.