EPA will have to reconsider its wastewater pollution standards for seven industrial sectors following a court decision earlier this month.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the agency failed to update decades-old “effluent limitation guidelines,” or ELGs, and take into account technological advances in pollution control for wastewater discharged into federal waters.
EPA’s decision not to revise the ELGs for the industries was arbitrary and capricious, said Judge Lucy Koh, writing the court’s majority opinion.
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“We therefore remand for the EPA to reconsider its decision or provide a fuller explanation,” she wrote.
