Supreme Court muddies clean water act
- The court narrowed application of the act, leaving regulators confused and giving some polluters a clear path to the nearest creek.
- Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling EPA.
Charles Duhigg and Janet Roberts, New York Times
The mouth of Avondale Creek in Alabama, into which a pipe maker dumped oil, lead and zinc. A court ruling made the waterway exempt from the Clean Water Act. David Walter Banks for the New York Times
Thousands of the nation's largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act's reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators.
As a result, some businesses are declaring the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising.
Companies that have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters are not being prosecuted, according to Environmental Protection Agency regulators on those cases, who estimate more than 1,500 major pollution investigations have been discontinued or shelved in the past four years.
