The decline and (possible) renewal of aspiration in the clean water act

Washington Law Review

Volumn 88, Issue 3, 2013, Pages 759-812

  Adler, Robert W ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF UTAH   (United States)

^b University of Washington School of Law   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 84885900345     PISSN: 00430617     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (262)

1. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a) (2006).
2. Jennifer Rosenberg, Churchill Quotes: A Collection of Quotes by Winston Churchill, ABOUT.COM (July 21, 2013), http://www.history1900s.about.com/od/people/a/ChurchillQuotes.htm.
3. 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251-1387. Congress first passed the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, ch. 750, Pub. L. No. 80-85, 62 Stat. 1155, in 1948 and amended it several times before passing the version now known by its short name, "Clean Water Act." See WILLIAM H. RODGERS, JR., ENVIRONMENTAL LAW § 4.1.A.4.a (2d ed. 1994).
4. The Act, as amended, consumes 180 pages in the U.S. Code. 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251-1387. These provisions appear at pages 797-977 of the published Code.
5. This Article was inspired by the fortieth anniversary of what most CWA observers view as adoption of the "modern" version of the statute in October 1972. See Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, Pub. L. No. 92-500, 86 Stat. 816.
6. 40 C.F.R. pts. 104-503 (2012).
7. Water: Policy & Guidance, EPA, http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/guidance/index.cfm (last visited Aug. 3, 2013).
8. Federal case annotations alone consume more than 750 pages of the U.S. Code Annotated. See 33 U.S.C.A. §§ 1251-1387 (West 2013).
9. 33 U.S.C. § 1362(14) (defining a point source as "any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance .from which pollutants are or may be discharged"). According to EPA, as of 2001 over 400,000 point source dischargers required permits under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). EPA, PROTECTING THE NATION'S WATERS THROUGH EFFECTIVE NPDES PERMITS, A STRATEGIC PLAN FY 2001 AND BEYOND 1 (2001), available at http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/strategicplan.pdf.
10. 33 U.S.C. § 1362(6) (defining a large range of materials as "pollutant[s]" covered by the CWA regulatory scheme).
11. Because the Act does not define "nonpoint sources" separately, by negative implication a nonpoint source is any source of "pollution" other than a point source.
12. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(1). As detailed below, this principal objective is accompanied by a series of subsidiary congressional goals and policies. See id. § 1251(a)(1)-(7).
13. Michael C. Blumm & William Warnock, Roads Not Taken: EPA vs. Clean Water, 33 ENVTL. L. 79 (2003)
14. Jamison E. Colburn, Waters of the United States: Theory, Practice, and Integrity at the Supreme Court, 34 FLA. ST. U. L. REV. 183 (2007)
15. David Drelich, Restoring the Cornerstone of the Clean Water Act, 34 COLUM. J. ENVTL. L. 267 (2009)
16. Victor B. Flatt, Spare the Rod and Spoil the Law: Why the Clean Water Act Has Never Grown Up, 55 ALA. L. REV. 595 (2004)
17. Jeffrey M. Gaba, Generally Illegal: NPDES General Permits Under the Clean Water Act, 31 HARV. ENVTL. L. REV. 409 (2007)
18. Robert L. Glicksman & Mathew R. Batzel, Science, Politics, Law, and the Arc of the Clean Water Act: The Role of Assumptions in the Adoption of a Pollution Control Landmark, 32 WASH. U. J.L. & POL'Y 99 (2010)
19. Kenneth M. Murchison, Learning from More Than Five-and-a-Half Decades of Federal Water Pollution Control Legislation: Twenty Lessons for the Future, 32 B.C. ENVTL. AFF. L. REV. 527 (2005)
20. Mark C. Van Putten & Bradley D. Jackson, The Dilution of the Clean Water Act, 19 U. MICH. J.L. REFORM 863 (1986).
21. 33 U.S.C. § 1251.
22. Robert W. Adler, The Two Lost Books in the Water Quality Trilogy: The Elusive Objectives of Physical and Biological Integrity, 33 ENVTL. L. 29+44-46 (2003).
23. S. REP. NO. 92-414, at 76 (1971), reprinted in 1972 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3668, 3742.
24. H.R. REP. NO. 92-911, at 76 (1972).
25. 33 U.S.C. § 1362(19).
26. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(1)-(7).
27. Bailey v. United States, 516 U.S. 137, 146 (1995) ("We assume that Congress used two terms because it intended each term to have a particular, nonsuperfluous meaning.").
28. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a).
29. Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006); Solid Waste Agency of N. Cook Cnty. v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs, 531 U.S. 159 (2001).
30. 33 U.S.C. § 1342.
31. The statutory definition of "discharge," unadorned by the qualifier "of pollutants," is broader than "discharge of pollutants" because it includes, but is not limited to, a "discharge of pollutants." Id. § 1362(16)
32. S.D. Warren Co. v. Me. Bd. of Envtl. Prot., 547 U.S. 370 (2006).
33. Compare 33 U.S.C. § 1362(19) (defining "pollution" as "the man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water"), with id. § 1362(12) (defining the narrower concept of "discharge of pollutants").
34. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(2).
35. 40 C.F.R. § 131.10(g) (2012).
36. Although no court appears to have had the opportunity to pass on these competing interpretations, presumably the result would depend on whether a court found the meaning of the provision clear under step I of the Chevron test, or ambiguous under Chevron step II. See Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984).
37. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(2) (2006) (establishing July 1, 1983 deadline in the statute adopted in October 1972).
38. See supra notes 22-26 and accompanying text regarding the distinction between congressional goals and policies in the CWA.
39. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(3).
40. Joseph F. Borzelleca, Paracelsus: Herald of Modern Toxicology, 53 TOXICOLOGICAL SCI. 2, 2 (2000).
41. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. EPA, 824 F.2d 1146 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (en banc) (describing non-threshold pollutants).
42. 33 U.S.C. § 1362(13).
43. Mark Eliot Shere, The Myth of Meaningful Environmental Risk Assessment, 19 HARV. ENVTL. L. REV. 409 (1995)
44. Wendy E. Wagner, The Science Charade in Toxic Risk Regulation, 95 COLUM. L. REV. 1613 (1995).
45. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(3).
46. S. REP. NO. 92-1236, at 2 (1972) (Conf. Rep.), reprinted in 1972 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3776, 3777. The House bill also included the zero-discharge provision.
47. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(4) (establishing a national policy of providing federal financial assistance for publicly owned treatment works); id. § 1251(a)(5) (establishing a national policy to develop and implement areawide waste treatment management planning processes to ensure adequate pollution control); id. § 1251(a)(6) (establishing a national policy to conduct research and development necessary to develop the technology needed to eliminate pollutant discharges); id. § 1251(a)(7) (establishing a national policy of developing and expeditiously implementing programs to control nonpoint source pollution).
48. Rodriguez v. United States, 480 U.S. 522, 525-26 (1987) (per curiam) ("[I]t frustrates rather than effectuates legislative intent simplistically to assume that whatever furthers the statute's primary objective must be the law." (emphasis in original)).
49. United States v. Borowski, 977 F.2d 27, 30 (1st Cir. 1992); Weyerhaeuser Co. v. Costle, 590 F.2d 1011, 1025 (D.C. Cir. 1978); Am. Paper Inst. v. Train, 543 F.2d 328, 333 (D.C. Cir. 1976).
50. Kennecott Copper Corp. v. EPA, 612 F.2d 1232, 1236 (10th Cir. 1979); Am. Petrol. Inst. v. EPA, 540 F.2d 1023, 1028 (10th Cir. 1976).
51. 16 U.S.C. § 1531(b) (2006) (Endangered Species Act provision articulating a congressional purpose "to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved"); 42 U.S.C. § 4321 (2006) (National Environmental Policy Act provision establishing a "national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; [and] to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man"); id. § 6902(b) (establishing a "national policy of the United States that, wherever feasible, the generation of hazardous waste is to be reduced or eliminated as expeditiously as feasible," and waste that is generated is "treated, stored, or disposed of so as to minimize the present and future threat to human health and the environment"); id. § 7401(b)(1) (Clean Air Act provision establishing congressional purpose "to protect and enhance the quality of the Nation's air resources so as to promote the public health and welfare and the productive capacity of its population").
52. Nat'l Wildlife Fed'n v. Gorsuch, 693 F.2d 156, 178 (D.C. Cir. 1982). The court noted that Congress intended the statutory objective to be tempered by economic, technological, and political realities, as reflected in specific exemptions or requirements of various operative provisions. Id. The court further stated: Moreover, the purposes section, in its own right, suggests that Congress recognized that the substantive provisions of the Act fall short of completely achieving the announced goals of the Act. Congress hedged the purposes section by making it apply only as "consistent with the provisions of this [Act]," and explicitly distinguished between the congressional "policy" to eliminate discharge of toxic pollutants and the presumably weaker "goal" of eliminating discharge of all pollutants.
53. Donovan v. Dewey, 452 U.S. 594, 602 n.7 (1981) (citing statutory preamble to interpret other provisions of Mine Safety and Health Act).
54. Kennecott Copper, 612 F.2d at 1236; Am. Petrol. Inst., 540 F.2d at 1028.
55. Robertson v. Methow Valley Citizens Council, 490 U.S. 332, 350 (1989) (minimizing the significance of Congress's substantive policy statements in favor of the operative procedural provisions of the statute).
56. 16 U.S.C. § 1531(b) (2006).
57. 42 U.S.C. § 4321 (2006).
58. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a) (2006).
59. 42 U.S.C. § 7401(b)(1).
60. 33 U.S.C. §1251(a)(2). But see supra notes 39-41 and accompanying text regarding alternative interpretations of this language.
61. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(1).
62. 40 C.F.R. § 131.2 (2012).
63. 33 U.S.C. § 1311(b)(1)(C).
64. EPA adopted secondary treatment standards by regulation. 40 C.F.R. § 133.102.
65. 33 U.S.C. § 1311(b)(1)(B).
66. Clean Water Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-217, sec. 49, § 304, 91 Stat. 1566, 1588 (adding § 304(d)(3), codified at 33 U.S.C. § 1314(d)(3)); Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, Pub. L. No. 92-500, sec. 2, §§ 201, 301, 86 Stat. 816, 833-34, 845, repealed by Municipal Wastewater Treatment Construction Grant Amendments of 1981, Pub. L. No. 97-117, § 21(b), 95 Stat. 1623, 1632 (repealing § 301(b)(2)(B)).
67. Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 §§ 201, 301(b), 86 Stat. at 833-34, 844-45.
68. Robert W. Adler, Water and Wastewater Infrastructure in the United States: The Clean Water-Energy-Climate Nexus, 4 GEO. WASH. J. OF ENERGY & ENVTL. L. (forthcoming Summer 2013).
69. 33 U.S.C. § 1311(b)(1)(A). New source performance standards adopted under this provision must be included in all discharge permits for new sources. Id. § 1342(a)(1)-(b)(1).
70. Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, sec. 2, § 307(a), 86 Stat. at 856-57. Congress directed EPA to adopt those standards based on toxicity, persistence, degradability, presence in aquatic organisms and the importance of those organisms, and the nature and degree of impacts from those pollutants.
71. Clean Water Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-217, § 53(a), 91 Stat. 1566, 1589-90 (amending 33 U.S.C. § 1317(a)).
72. 33 U.S.C. § 1317(a)(2).
73. 33 U.S.C. § 1281 (calling for adoption of comprehensive waste treatment management plans); id. § 1288 (calling for area-wide waste treatment programs addressing multiple pollution sources); id. § 1313(d) (requiring total maximum daily load calculations for impaired waters); id. § 1313(e) (requiring states to develop continuing planning processes to address aggregate water pollution problems).
74. Robin A. Abell et al., FRESHWATER ECOREGIONS OF NORTH AMERICA, A CONSERVATION ASSESSMENT 17-20 (2000) (identifying diverse sources of impairment to U.S. aquatic ecosystems)
75. EPA, A PRIMER ON USING BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS TO SUPPORT WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT 1 (2011) [hereinafter PRIMER ON USING BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS] (same).
76. I was a Senior Attorney and Director of the Clean Water Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council at the time I heard these speeches. I also served on the Management Advisory Committee to Ms. Wilcher. Ms. Wilcher was referring to the fact that the Cuyahoga River fire of June 22, 1969 provided some impetus for enactment of the 1972 CWA amendments.
77. Jonathan H. Adler, Fables of the Cuyahoga: Reconstructing a History of Environmental Protection, 14 FORDHAM ENVTL. L. J. 89+92 (2002).
78. Secondary treatment refers to the minimum level of treatment Congress deemed acceptable for municipal sewage. 33 U.S.C. § 1311(b)(1)(B). EPA defined secondary treatment more specifically by regulation. 40 C.F.R. pt. 133 (2012).
79. DADE W. MOELLER, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH 173 (3d ed. 2005).
80. EPA, EPA-832-R-10-002, CLEAN WATERSHED NEEDS SURVEY 2008 REPORT TO CONGRESS, at ix (2010) [hereinafter CLEAN WATERSHED NEEDS SURVEY]. Approximately three quarters of the U.S. population is now served by centralized wastewater collection and treatment systems. Id. Moreover, a large percentage of treatment facilities that do not attain secondary treatment are subject to statutory waivers for certain ocean discharges. See 33 U.S.C. § 1311(h); Clean Water Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-217, sec. 44, § 301(h), 91 Stat. 1566, 1584.
81. EPA, EPA-832-R-00-008, PROGRESS IN WATER QUALITY: AN EVALUATION OF THE NATIONAL INVESTMENT IN MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT, at ES-5 (2000) [hereinafter PROGRESS IN WATER QUALITY]. EPA's forty-five percent decline estimate is based on reductions in the traditional measure of five-day biological oxygen demand (BOD5) used in EPA's secondary treatment definition. See 40 C.F.R. § 133.102.
82. 33 U.S.C. § 1342. According to data reported by EPA on NPDES permit backlogs, as of March 2013 there were 5082 permits for major industrial facilities out of 6699 facilities total, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), Backlog Reduction, EPA.GOV, http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/grade_2013.pdf (last visited Sept. 16, 2013); 32+890 permits for minor industrial facilities out of 39,459 total, id. http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/grade_minor_2013.pdf; and non-storm water general permits covering 73,483 out of 80,279 facilities, id. http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/grade_all_2013.pdf. Overall, EPA estimates that more than 500,000 facilities require NPDES permits. EPA, EPA-833-R-01-001, PROTECTING THE NATION'S WATERS THROUGH EFFECTIVE NPDES PERMITS, A STRATEGIC PLAN FY 2001 AND BEYOND 1 fig.1 (2001).
83. ROBERT W. ADLER et al., THE CLEAN WATER ACT 20 YEARS LATER 16 (1993).
84. MOELLER, supra note 100, at 202-03 (explaining oxygen demanding pollutants and methods of measuring them).
85. PROGRESS IN WATER QUALITY, supra note 102, at ES-6.
86. 42 U.S.C. § 11023 (2006) (establishing a comprehensive reporting system for releases of identified toxic chemicals to the environment above prescribed reporting levels).
87. EPA, 2011 TOXICS RELEASE INVENTORY, NATIONAL ANALYSIS OVERVIEW 4 (2013).
88. See id. at 6 fig.4 (depicting roughly constant releases to surface waters).
89. ADLER et al., supra note 104, at 22-29.
90. EPA formerly published biennial reports entitled the "National Water Quality Inventory, [Year] Report to Congress," based on state reporting pursuant to CWA § 305(b), codified at 33 U.S.C. § 1315(b) (2006). See, e.g., EPA, EPA 841-R-00-001, NATIONAL WATER QUALITY INVENTORY: 1998 REPORT TO CONGRESS (2000), available at http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/guidance/cwa/305b/98report_index.cfm. Now, EPA publishes and analyzes the most recent data online.
91. EPA, WATERSHED ASSESSMENT, TRACKING, & ENVIRONMENTAL RESULTS: NATIONAL SUMMARY OF STATE INFORMATION, http://ofmpub.epa.gov/waters10/attains_nation_cy.control (last visited Sept. 2, 2013) [hereinafter NATIONAL WATERSHED ASSESSMENT]. The percentages were derived by dividing the threatened and impaired waters by the total number of assessed waters. The Assessment indicated that not all waters have been assessed for water quality attainment, so I base this analysis only on assessed waters.
92. EPA, EPA-822-R-02-048, SUMMARY OF BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAMS AND BIOCRITERIA DEVELOPMENT FOR STATES, TRIBES, TERRITORIES, AND INTERSTATE COMMISSIONS: STREAMS AND WADEABLE RIVERS (2002).
93. EPA, EPA-841-F-06-001, THE WADEABLE STREAMS ASSESSMENT: A COLLABORATIVE SURVEY OF THE NATION'S STREAMS (2006).
94. Thomas C. Brown & Pamela Froemke, Nationwide Assessment of Nonpoint Source Threats to Water Quality, 62 BIOSCIENCE 136+140-143 (2012)
95. NATIONAL WATERSHED ASSESSMENT, supra note 111.
96. Admittedly the issue of determining what concentrations of pollutants meet the definition of "toxic" is no easy task. See supra note 53 and accompanying text.
97. U.S. GEOL. SURVEY, FACT SHEET 2004-3098, STUDIES BY THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ON SOURCES, TRANSPORT, AND FATE OF AGRICULTURAL CHEMICALS (2004).
98. NATIONAL WATERSHED ASSESSMENT, supra note 111.
99. ADLER et al., supra note 104, at 5-6. As just one telling example, a recent news story compared the annual swim in Boston's Charles River to the time when people were advised to get tetanus shots if they fell in the river. Living on Earth: Love That Dirty Water, Swimming in Boston's Charles River (radio broadcast week of June 7, 2013), available at http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=13-P13-00023&segmentID=3.
100. Richard J. Lazarus, The Tragedy of Distrust in the Implementation of Federal Environmental Law, 54 LAW & CONTEMP. PROBS. 311+315-21 (1991) (describing the effect of agency capture on EPA)
101. Joel A. Mintz, Has Industry Captured the EPA?: Appraising Marver Bernstein's Captive Agency Theory After Fifty Years, 17 FORDHAM ENVTL. L. REV. 1, 7-9 (2005).
102. I say this with all due respect to the effectiveness of those organizations, particularly given that I headed NRDC's Clean Water Program for seven years.
103. Case captions bearing the names of these organizations as lead plaintiffs are legion. See, e.g., Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. EPA, 656 F.2d 768 (D.C. Cir. 1981); Envtl. Def. Fund, Inc. v. Costle, 636 F.2d 1229 (D.C. Cir. 1980).
104. Captions from major lawsuits challenging early CWA implementation illustrate this point. See, e.g., E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. v. Train, 430 U.S. 112 (1977) (challenging EPA's practice of establishing enforceable effluent limitations for industrial sources by industry-wide regulation rather than individual facility permits); Weyerhaeuser Co. v. Costle, 590 F.2d 1011 (D.C. Cir. 1978) (challenging stringency of effluent limitations for paper industry); U.S. Steel Corp. v. Train, 556 F.2d 822 (7th Cir. 1977) (challenging regulation of heat in effluent discharges); Am. Petrol. Inst. v. EPA, 540 F.2d 1023 (10th Cir. 1976) (challenging general applicability of effluent limitations for existing sources); Appalachian Power Co. v. Train, 545 F.2d 1351 (4th Cir. 1976) (challenging EPA application of CWA variance provisions); Am. Frozen Food Inst. v. Train, 539 F.2d 107 (D.C. Cir. 1976) (challenging EPA authority to adopt effluent limitations guidelines for potato processing industry); Am. Meat Inst. v. EPA, 526 F.2d 442 (7th Cir. 1975) (challenging stringency of effluent limitations guidelines for slaughterhouses and meat packing facilities).
105. Congress did amend numerous important details of statutory implementation described below, in 1977, 1981, and 1987, with less comprehensive amendments at other times. See Water Quality Act of 1987, Pub. L. No. 100-4, 101 Stat. 7, 7-90; Municipal Wastewater Treatment Construction Grant Amendments of 1981, Pub. L. No. 97-117, 95 Stat. 1623, 1623-34; Clean Water Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-217, 91 Stat. 1566, 1566-612. The major CWA reauthorization originally scheduled for 1992, however, has yet to occur more than two decades after that deadline.
106. Clean Water Act of 1977, sec. 5(a), § 101(g), 91 Stat. at 1567 (amendment clarifying the relationship between CWA and state water rights and allocations).
107. 33 U.S.C. §§ 1311(a), 1314, 1316 (2006) (imposing effluent limitations on industrial and municipal point sources based on both "best technology" obligations and water quality needs).
108. See id. (establishing point source control requirements); id. §§ 1288, 1319 (establishing nonpoint source control programs).
109. The statute identifies conventional pollutants as biological oxygen demand, suspended solids, fecal coliform, and pH, and authorized EPA to identify additional conventional pollutants by regulation. Id. § 1314(a)(4).
110. See id. § 1316(a) (requiring zero-discharge from new sources where practicable).
111. As discussed below, EPA did adopt zero-discharge requirements for a relatively small number of industrial point source categories.
112. Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Se. Alaska Conservation Council, 557 U.S. 261+268-271 (2009).
113. Municipal Wastewater Treatment Construction Grant Amendments of 1981, Pub. L. No. 97-117, 95 Stat. 1623, 1623-34.
114. For cases discussing the tension between the more ambitious recycling and reuse goals for POTWs and the practicalities of addressing raw sewage discharges in the short term, see Montgomery Environmental Coalition v. Costle, 646 F.2d 568 (D.C. Cir. 1980); Environmental Defense Fund v. Costle, 439 F. Supp. 980 (E.D.N.Y. 1977); City of North Miami v. Train, 377 F. Supp. 1264 (S.D. Fla. 1974).
115. E.g., Water Quality Act of 1987, Pub. L. No. 100-4, sec. 306, § 301, 101 Stat. 7, 35-37 (authorizing modifications of industrial effluent limitations based on "fundamentally different factors" from those used in promulgating categorical effluent limitations); Clean Water Act of 1977, Pub. L. No. 95-217, sec. 43, § 301(g), 91 Stat. 1566, 1583 (providing modifications of effluent limitations for certain pollutants); id. sec. 44, § 301(h), 91 Stat. at 1584 (providing secondary treatment modifications for ocean discharges).
116. 33 U.S.C. § 1342(p) (2006).
117. This legislative change responded in part to EPA's administrative strategy of exempting large categories of point source discharges from the NPDES program. See infra notes 159-164 and accompanying text.
118. NAT'L WATER COMM'N, WATER POLICIES FOR THE FUTURE: FINAL REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT AND TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES BY THE NATIONAL WATER COMMISSION 70-71 (1973) [hereinafter NAT'L WATER COMM'N].
119. Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, Pub. L. No. 92-500, sec. 2, § 305, 86 Stat. 816, 853-54 (adding CWA § 305).
120. S. REP. NO. 92-414, at 11-12 (1971), reprinted in 1972 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3668, 3678.
121. S. REP. NO. 95-370, at 1 (1977), reprinted in 1977 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4326, 4327; see also NAT'L COMM'N ON WATER QUALITY, REPORT TO THE CONGRESS BY THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON WATER QUALITY 13 (1976).
122. In 1977, the Senate Committee indicated its view that "[l]ittle contained in the study of the [National Commission on Water Quality] could be construed as justifying major changes in the direction established in 1972." S. REP. NO. 95-370, at 1, reprinted in 1977 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 4327.
123. 33 U.S.C. § 1288 (2006) (providing for state water quality management plans to address, inter alia, nonpoint source pollution, but with no specific mandates).
124. S. REP. NO. 95-370, at 9, reprinted in 1977 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 4335 (indicating that the 1977 committee continued to believe "that these matters were appropriately left to the level of government closest to the sources of the problem").
125. In 1971, Congress expressed its strong expectation that state controls "will be applied as soon as possible." S. REP. NO. 92-414, at 39 (1971), reprinted in 1972 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3668, 3706.
126. S. REP. NO. 95-370, at 9, reprinted in 1977 U.S.C.C.A.N. at 4335.
127. 33 U.S.C. § 1329.
128. Compare id. (authorizing federal efforts to identify waters impaired by nonpoint source pollution but not federal control programs), with id. § 1313(c) (authorizing federal adoption of water quality standards in states that failed to do so adequately), and id. § 1342(c)-(d) (authorizing federal veto of deficient state NPDES permits or federal NPDES programs in states that fail to administer the point source control program adequately).
129. William L. Andreen, Water Quality Today-Has the Clean Water Act Been a Success?, 55 ALA. L. REV. 537+593 (2004)
130. Glicksman & Batzel, supra note 14, at 132-133
131. David Zaring, Note, Agriculture, Nonpoint Source Pollution, and Regulatory Control: The Clean Water Act's Bleak Present and Future, 20 HARV. ENVTL. L. REV. 515+521-28 (1996).
132. As discussed infra notes 181-199, Congress delegated to the Secretary of the Army the task of implementing section 404 of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. § 1344, in conjunction with EPA.
133. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837+864-866 (1984).
134. David M. Driesen, Purposeless Construction, 48 WAKE FOREST L. REV. 97 (2013) (critiquing the Supreme Court's increasing tendency to construe statutes without considering statutory purposes).
135. States have the authority to implement numerous CWA programs. See, e.g., 33 U.S.C. § 1313(c) (state review of water quality standards); id. § 1342(b) (state NPDES permitting program); id. §1344(g) (state administration of the section 404 dredge and fill program); see also supra note 125 and accompanying text (discussing various state planning programs).
136. Compare Decker v. Nw. Envtl. Def. Ctr., __U.S.__, 133 S. Ct. 1326, 1337-38 (2013) (upholding EPA's decision to exempt from NPDES permit requirement channelized discharges from logging roads), with Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. Costle, 568 F.2d 1369, 1379, 1381-82 (D.C. Cir. 1997) (overruling EPA's decisions to exclude categories of point sources form NPDES program based on principles of feasibility, but authorizing use of general or area-wide permits).
137. 40 C.F.R. § 122.23 (2012); Nat'l Pork Producers Council v. EPA, 635 F.3d 738, 750-51 (5th Cir. 2011).
138. 40 C.F.R. § 122.24.
139. d. pts. 405-17.
140. S. REP. NO. 92-414, at 42-44 (1971), reprinted in 1972 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3668, 3710-11.
141. In section 402(a) of the CWA, Congress authorized permits "prior to the taking of necessary implementing actions .[based on] such conditions as the Administrator determines are necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter." 33 U.S.C. § 1342(a)(1) (2006). Known more colloquially as "best professional judgment" or "BPJ" effluent limitations, Congress intended individual permit writers to estimate the applicable effluent limitations for facilities until EPA promulgated the intended categorical regulations for that category of facility. See 40 C.F.R. § 122.44(a)(1). However, EPA still has not promulgated regulatory effluent limitations for all industrial point sources, despite additional urging from Congress in the 1987 amendments. See 33 U.S.C. § 1314(m) (requiring EPA to complete the task of adopting industrial effluent limitations guidelines).
142. 40 C.F.R. §§ 410.12, 410.13 (BPT and BAT effluent limitations identical).
143. 40 C.F.R. pt. 405 (Dairy Products Processing Point Source Category, promulgated 1974 and amended once in 1995); id. pt. 406 (Grain Mills Point Source Category, last amended 1995); id. pt. 407 (Canned and Preserved Fruits and Vegetables Processing Point Source Category, last amended 1995).
144. Bruce A. Ackerman & Richard B. Stewart, Reforming Environmental Law: The Democratic Case for Market Incentives, 13 COLUM. J. ENVTL. L. 171 (1988) (arguing that economic incentives would generate more innovation than technology-based regulations)
145. D. Bruce La Pierre, Technology-Forcing and Federal Environmental Protection Statutes, 62 IOWA L. REV. 771 (1977) (critiquing the degree of innovation generated by Clean Air Act automobile standards).
146. Wendy A. Wagner, The Triumph of Technology-Based Standards, 2000 U. ILL. L. REV. 83 (lauding the effectiveness of technology-based standards in generating innovation and leveling the playing field among dischargers).
147. 40 C.F.R. § 131.10(g).
148. 33 U.S.C. § 1313(d) (2006). For an excellent, detailed history of the reasons for this delay and the ensuing battle over TMDL program implementation, see OLIVER A. HOUCK, THE CLEAN WATER ACT TMDL PROGRAM: LAW, POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION (2d ed. 2002).
149. Kelly Seaburg, Murky Waters: Courts Should Hold That the "Any-Progress-Is-Sufficient-Progress" Approach to TMDL Development Under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act Is Arbitrary and Capricious, 82 WASH. L. REV. 767 (2007).
150. Sierra Club v. Hankinson, 939 F. Supp. 865 (N.D. Ga. 1996); Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. Fox, 909 F. Supp. 153 (S.D.N.Y. 1995); Alaska Ctr. for the Env't v. Reilly, 796 F. Supp. 1374 (W.D. Wash. 1992), aff'd, 20 F.3d 981 (9th Cir. 1994).
151. Robert W. Adler, Integrated Approaches to Water Pollution: Lessons from the Clean Air Act, 23 HARV. ENVTL. L. REV. 203 (1999).
152. 33 U.S.C. § 1344.
153. United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes, 474 U.S. 121, 123 (1985).
154. NAT'L RESEARCH COUNCIL, WETLANDS: CHARACTERISTICS AND BOUNDARIES 42 (1995).
155. 40 C.F.R. § 230.3(s) (2012) (defining "waters of the United States" as including wetlands for purposes of the section 404 permit program); 40 Fed. Reg. 31,320 (July 25, 1975) (describing regulatory history in the wake of Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. Callaway, 392 F. Supp. 685 (D.D.C. 1975)).
156. 33 U.S.C. § 1342.
157. 33 C.F.R. § 323.3 (2012). Indeed, the definition of "fill material" is material that "has the effect of .(i) [r]eplacing any portion of a water of the United States with dry land; or (ii) [c]hanging the bottom elevation of any portion of a water of the United States." Id. § 323.2(e)(1).
158. 40 C.F.R. pt. 230.
159. Oliver A. Houck, Hard Choices: The Analysis of Alternatives Under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Similar Environmental Laws, 60 U. COLO. L. REV. 773 (1989).
160. T.E. DAHL, U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, STATUS AND TRENDS OF WETLANDS IN THE CONTERMINOUS UNITED STATES 1998 TO 2004, at 43-46 (2006) (reporting modest net gains in wetlands acreage from 1998-2004 but noting predominant gains in freshwater ponds relative to other wetland types, and declining to evaluate wetland quality); COMM. ON MITIGATING WETLAND LOSSES, NAT'L RESEARCH COUNCIL, COMPENSATING FOR WETLAND LOSSES UNDER THE CLEAN WATER ACT 16-20 (2001) [hereinafter COMPENSATING FOR WETLAND LOSSES] (reporting trend of historical wetland losses that the Corps of Engineers reports will be reversed due to compensatory mitigation, but reserving judgment on the efficacy of mitigation due to insufficiency of data).
161. 40 C.F.R. pt. 230, subpt. J (Compensatory Mitigation for Loss of Aquatic Resources).
162. COMPENSATING FOR WETLAND LOSSES, supra note 195, at 22-45, 70-73 (concluding that restoration is easier for some wetland types relative to others, and that it is difficult to track mitigation success).
163. Compensatory Mitigation for Losses of Aquatic Resources, 73 Fed. Reg. 19,594 (Apr. 10, 2008) (to be codified at 33 C.F.R. pts. 325 and 332; 40 C.F.R. pt. 230).
164. 40 C.F.R. § 230.93 (establishing general requirements for compensatory mitigation); id. § 230.95 (establishing ecological performance standards for wetland mitigation).
165. 33 U.S.C. § 1319 (2006).
166. Drelich, supra note 13
167. Flatt, supra note 13.
168. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984); Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass'n of U.S., Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 41 (1983); Citizens to Pres. Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 416 (1971).
169. Driesen, supra note 157.
170. Mark A. Latham, (Un)restoring the Chemical, Physical, and Biological Integrity of Our Nation's Waters: The Emerging Clean Water Act Jurisprudence of the Roberts Court, 28 VA. ENVTL. L.J. 411 (2010)
171. Mark Squillace, The Judicial Assault on the Clean Water Act, FED. LAW., July 2012, at 33.
172. 557 U.S. 261, 291 (2009). In the interest of full disclosure, I co-authored an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court, unsuccessfully, to uphold the decision of the Ninth Circuit below. See Brief for the Honorable G. Tracy Meehan, Former Assistant Administrator for Water at the EPA as Amicus Curiae in Support of Respondent, Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Se. Alaska Conservation Council, 557 U.S. 261 (2009) (Nos. 07-984 and 07-990).
173. 40 C.F.R. § 440.104(b)(1) (2012) (prohibiting discharges of process wastes from new source mines using the froth flotation treatment process).
174. Coeur Alaska, 557 U.S. at 268-71.
175. Se. Alaska Conservation Council v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs, 486 F.3d 638, 644-45 (9th Cir. 2007).
176. Coeur Alaska, 557 U.S. at 291; see also Chantz Martin, Comment, The Clean Water Act Suffers a Crushing Blow: The U.S. Supreme Court Clears the Way for the Mining Industry to Pollute U.S. Waters [Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, 129 S. Ct. 2458 (2009)], 49 WASHBURN L.J. 933 (2010).
177. Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006) (split opinions interpreting the relative degree of nexus required between isolated waters and navigable waters to warrant CWA jurisdiction); S. Fla. Water Mgmt. Dist. v. Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, 541 U.S. 95 (2004) (holding that discharges must be to "meaningfully distinct" bodies of water to require NPDES permits); Solid Waste Agency of N. Cook Cnty. v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs, 531 U.S. 159 (2001) (invalidating regulatory interpretation justifying CWA jurisdiction based on use by migratory birds).
178. Rapanos, 547 U.S. at 739 (relying on dictionary definition of "waters" rather than agency's regulatory definition in order to read the statute narrowly); Solid Waste Agency, 531 U.S. at 172-73 (reading CWA narrowly to avoid constitutional interpretation rather than employing traditional principles of deference).
179. THE SUPREME COURT AND THE CLEAN WATER ACT: FIVE ESSAYS (L. Kinvin Wroth ed., 2007)
180. Colburn, supra note 14.
181. PATRICK COMER ET AL., NATURESERVE, BIODIVERSITY VALUES OF GEOGRAPHICALLY ISOLATED WETLANDS IN THE UNITED STATES (2005).
182. John P. Dwyer, The Pathology of Symbolic Legislation, 17 ECOLOGY L.Q. 233 (1990).
183. NAT'L WATER COMM'N, supra note 141.
184. NAT'L WATER COMM'N, Id. at 69.
185. NAT'L WATER COMM'N, Id. at 70.
186. The Commission, by contrast, feared that the costs of attaining the zero-discharge goal might vastly exceed the benefits.
187. The Commission, by contrast, feared that the costs of attaining the zero-discharge goal might vastly exceed the benefits Id. at 71.
188. The Commission, by contrast, feared that the costs of attaining the zero-discharge goal might vastly exceed the benefits Id. at 70.
189. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(2) (2006).
190. Even under the current CWA system as implemented by EPA regulations states must adopt designated uses that include agricultural and industrial purposes. See 40 C.F.R. § 131.10(a) (2012). However, states still must designate waters for fishable and swimmable uses wherever attainable.
191. An anecdote based on personal recollection suggests that similar views persisted long after the 1972 legislative debate, and undoubtedly to this day. I served as Vice Chairman of Water Quality 2000, a multi-interest group policy forum on national water pollution control issues convened by the Water Environment Federation and others.
192. WATER QUALITY 2000, WATER ENVIRONMENT FEDERATION, A NATIONAL WATER AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY, FINAL REPORT (1992). At the opening meeting of that set of policy discussions, I recall an industry representative expressing the opinion that the goal of restoring the complete chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters would require a return to Pre-Columbian conditions in the United States, and that the zero discharge goal violated the second law of thermodynamics.
193. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a).
194. In the passage quoted above, the 1972 Senate Committee at least hinted that prodding was one function of the ambitious statutory goals. See supra note 143 and accompanying text.
195. 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531-1544 (2006).
196. Holly Doremus, Delisting Endangered Species: An Aspirational Goal, Not a Realistic Expectation, 30 ENVTL. L. REP. 10,434, 10,435 (2000).
197. Amy Sinden, In Defense of Absolutes: Combating the Politics of Power in Environmental Law, 90 IOWA L. REV. 1405+487-511 (2005).
198. David Schoenbrod, Goals Statutes or Rules Statutes: The Case of the Clean Air Act, 30 UCLA L. REV. 740 (1983).
199. Dwyer, supra note 215, at 233-235.
200. supra notes 77-79 and accompanying text (discussing the fact that EPA interpreted the fishable and swimmable goal in CWA section 101(a)(2) as having enforceable effect pursuant to specific language in section 303(c) of the Act).
201. 33 U.S.C. § 1311(b)(2)(A) (2006) (requiring BAT effluent limitations for industrial point sources of certain pollutants).
202. See supra note 99 and accompanying text. Again, I am not asserting that Assistant Administrator Wilcher was advocating that policy, and I am quite confident she was not.
203. Mark H. Dorfman et al., ENVIRONMENTAL DIVIDENDS: CUTTING MORE CHEMICAL WASTES (1992).
204. Robert W. Adler, Controlling Nonpoint Water Source Pollution: Is Help on the Way (From the Courts or EPA)?, 31 ENVTL. L. REP. 10+270 (2001)
205. Douglas R. Williams, When Voluntary, Incentive-Based Controls Fail: Structuring a Regulatory Response to Agricultural Nonpoint Source Water Pollution, 9 WASH. U. J. L. & POL'Y 21 (2002)
206. Zaring, supra note 154, at 521-528.
207. Robert W. Adler, Filling the Gaps in Water Quality Standards: Legal Perspectives on Biocriteria, in BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT AND CRITERIA, TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCE PLANNING AND DECISION MAKING 345+358 (Wayne S. Davis & Thomas P. Simon eds., 1995)
208. Robert W. Adler, The Two Lost Books in the Water Quality Trilogy: The Elusive Objectives of Physical and Biological Integrity, 33 ENVTL. L. 29+70-75 (2003).
209. Steven F. Hayward, 2011 ALMANAC OF ENVIRONMENTAL TRENDS, at x, 129, 131-32 (2011) (bemoaning the lack of consistent, reliable data on water quality and other environmental trends in the United States)
210. V. Kerry Smith & Carlos Valcarcel Wolloh, Has Surface Water Quality Improved Since the Clean Water Act? (Nat'l Bureau of Econ. Research, Working Paper No. 18,192, 2012), available at http://www.nber.org/papers/w18192 (concluding that water quality has not changed markedly since the CWA was passed, but that insufficient monitoring systems and data are available to draw firm conclusions).
211. 33 U.S.C. § 1313(c)(2)(A) (2006); 40 C.F.R. § 131.6 (2012). Depending on some semantics of definition, an anti-degradation program can also be considered a component of a state's water quality standards. See 40 C.F.R. § 131.12.
212. 33 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(2).
213. EPA, EPA-823-B-94-005a ,WATER QUALITY STANDARDS HANDBOOK, 3-2, 3-24 to 3-26 (2d ed. 1994) [hereinafter WATER QUALITY STANDARDS HANDBOOK], available at http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/standards/handbook/index.cfm.
214. 40 C.F.R. § 131.11(b)(1); WATER QUALITY STANDARDS HANDBOOK, supra note 244, at 3-24. In the 1987 CWA amendments, Congress required states to adopt numeric water quality criteria for all toxic pollutants that could "reasonably be expected to interfere with" designated uses in the state. Water Quality Act of 1987, Pub. L. No. 100-4, § 308(d), 101 Stat. 7, 39 (codified as amended at 33 U.S.C. § 1313(c)(2)(B)).
215. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. EPA, 859 F.2d 156, 189-191 (D.C. Cir. 1988) WATER QUALITY STANDARDS HANDBOOK, supra note 244, at 3-26.
216. Natural Res. Def. Council, 859 F.2d 156; Adler, supra note 240, at 350-51, 356-58 (discussing use of whole effluent toxicity for both individual permits and in assessing water body conditions).
217. Adler, supra note 240, at 354-355.
218. 33 U.S.C. § 1314(a); see also WATER QUALITY STANDARDS HANDBOOK, supra note 244, app. I (listing EPA's Water Quality Criteria Documents for various pollutants).
219. 40 C.F.R. § 131.11(b) (authorizing states to adopt EPA's recommended water quality criteria or to adopt more specific criteria where justified scientifically).
220. PUD No. 1 of Jefferson Cnty. v. Wash. Dep't of Ecology, 511 U.S. 700, 717 (1994) (noting that "water quality requirements generally sufficient to protect designated uses" cannot always measure water body impairment in specific water bodies).
221. James R. Karr, Assessment of Biotic Integrity Using Fish Communities, FISHERIES, Nov.-Dec. 1981, at 21
222. James R. Karr & Daniel R. Dudley, Ecological Perspective on Water Quality Goals, 5 ENVTL. MGMT. 55 (1981).
223. Wayne S. Davis, Biological Assessment and Criteria: Building on the Past, in BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT AND CRITERIA, TOOLS FOR WATER RESOURCE PLANNING AND DECISION MAKING, supra note 240, at 15.
224. More precisely, biocriteria "are numeric values or narrative expressions that describe the reference biological integrity of aquatic communities inhabiting waters that have been given a designated aquatic life use." EPA, EPA-440/5-91-003, BIOLOGICAL CRITERIA: STATE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION EFFORTS, at v (1991).
225. EPA, EPA-822-F-03-005, STATES AND TRIBES EMBRACE BIOASSESSMENT AND BIOCRITERIA FOR PROTECTING STREAMS AND SMALL RIVERS (2003)
226. EPA, SUMMARY OF BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAMS AND BIOCRITERIA DEVELOPMENT FOR STATES, TRIBES, TERRITORIES, AND INTERSTATE COMMISSIONS: STREAMS AND WADEABLE RIVERS 1-2 (2002).
227. EPA, A PRIMER ON USING BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENTS TO SUPPORT WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT 1 (2011).
228. The National Action Plan to Implement the Hydrogeomorphic Approach to Assessing Wetland Functions, 62 Fed. Reg. 33+607 (June 20, 1997)
229. Mark M. Brinson, U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENG'RS, A HYDROGEOMORPHIC CLASSIFICATION FOR WETLANDS (1993)
230. R. DANIEL SMITH et al., U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENG'RS, AN APPROACH FOR ASSESSING WETLAND FUNCTIONS USING HYDROGEOMORPHIC CLASSIFICATION, REFERENCE WETLANDS, AND FUNCTIONAL INDICES (1995).
231. The National Action Plan to Implement the Hydrogeomorphic Approach to Assessing Wetland Functions, 62 Fed. Reg. at 33+609.
232. See supra notes 197-200 and accompanying text (describing compensatory mitigation requirements for section 404 permits); 40 C.F.R. pt. 230, subpt. J (2012).
233. COMPENSATING FOR WETLAND LOSSES, supra note 195, at 113-122.
234. Royal C. Gardner, Banking on Entrepreneurs: Wetlands, Mitigation Banking, and Takings, 81 IOWA L. REV. 527 (1996).
235. SMITH et al., supra note 256, at 11.
236. The National Action Plan to Implement the Hydrogeomorphic Approach to Assessing Wetland Functions, 62 Fed. Reg. 33,607, 33,609-610 (June 20, 1997)
237. A Smith et al., supra note 256, at 1-5.
238. Charles Andrew Cole & James G. Kooser, HGM: Hidden, Gone, Missing?, WETLAND SCI. & PRAC., June 2003, at 9
239. Jon Kusler, Recommendations for Reconciling Wetland Assessment Techniques, ASSOCIATION OF STATE WETLAND MANAGERS (Apr. 2006), http://www.aswm.org/pdf_lib/reconciling.pdf (finding problems with HGM implementation).
240. Thomas Hruby, Testing the Basic Assumption of the Hydrogeomorphic Approach to Assessing Wetland Functions, 27 ENVTL. MGMT. 749 (2001) (questioning assumption that modified wetlands provide fewer values and functions than unimpaired wetlands)
241. Emilie K. Stander & Joan G. Ehrenfeld, Rapid Assessment of Urban Wetlands: Do Hydrogeomorphic Classification and Reference Criteria Work?, 43 ENVTL. MGMT. 725 (2009) (finding problems with HGM assessment of nitrogen cycling).
242. Robert W. Adler & Michele Straube, Watersheds and the Integration of U.S. Water Law and Policy: Bridging the Great Divides, 25 WM. & MARY ENVTL. L. & POL'Y REV. 1 (2000)
243. Jon Cannon, Choices and Institutions in Watershed Management, 25 WM. & MARY ENVTL. L. & POL'Y REV. 379 (2000)
244. A. Dan Tarlock, Putting Rivers Back in the Landscape: The Revival of Watershed Management in the United States, 14 HASTINGS W.-NW. J. ENVTL. L. & POL'Y 1059 (2008)
245. Annecoos Wiersema, A Train Without Tracks: Rethinking the Place of Law and Goals in Environmental and Natural Resources Law, 38 ENVTL. L. 1239 (2008).
246. A "desired future condition" refers to the "social, economic, and ecological attributes" expected from adoption of a particular resource management regime, and derives from federal ecosystem management policy.
247. Robert E. Bennetts & Bruce B. Bingham, Comparing Current and Desired Conditions of Resource Values for Evaluating Management Performance: A Cautionary Note on an Otherwise Useful Concept, 24 GEORGE WRIGHT F. 108+108 (2007).
248. Robert W. Adler, Priceline for Pollution: Auctions to Allocate Public Pollution Control Dollars, 34 WM. & MARY ENVTL. L. & POL'Y REV. 745+796-807 (2010) (providing history and status of Bay cleanup efforts)
249. William L. Andreen et al., White Paper 11-02, Missing the Mark in the Chesapeake Bay: A Report Card for the Phase I Watershed Implementation Plans, CENTER FOR PROGRESSIVE REFORM (Jan. 2011), http://www.progressivereform.org/articles/ChesBay_WIPs_1102.pdf
250. State of the Bay 2010, CHESAPEAKE BAY FOUNDATION (2010), http://www.cbf.org/document.doc?id=596 (reporting limited progress in overall Bay restoration efforts and failing or near-failing grades in most aspects of the Bay's water pollution control programs).
251. EPA, STRENGTHENING THE MANAGEMENT, COORDINATION, AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM: REPORT TO CONGRESS (2008)
252. Carl Hershner et al., Assessment of Chesapeake Bay Program Selection and Use of Indicators, 4 ECOHEALTH 187+189 (2007).
253. These program goals and commitments are formally recognized in an agreement entitled Chesapeake 2000, signed on June 28, 2000. Chesapeake 2000, CHESAPEAKE BAY PROGRAM, http://www.chesapeakebay.net/content/publications/cbp_12081.pdf (last visited Aug. 22, 2013). Specific goals in the agreement include a tenfold increase in native oysters in the Bay relative to a 1994 baseline; restoring fish passage for migratory to more than 1357 miles of blocked river habitat; protecting and restoring 114,000 acres of submerged aquatic vegetation; restoring 25,000 acres of wetlands; and reducing nutrient loadings by 40%. Id
254. Notice of Availability of Recovery Goals for Four Endangered Fishes of the Colorado River Basin, 67 Fed. Reg. 55,270 (Aug. 28, 2002)
255. Mark Shaffer, Minimum Viable Population Goals: Coping with Uncertainty, in VIABLE POPULATIONS FOR CONSERVATION 69 (Michael E. Soulé ed., 1987).
256. Robert W. Adler, Addressing Barriers to Watershed Protection, 25 ENVTL. L. 973+1000-03 (1994) (describing place-based incentives for watershed protection).
257. BIOREGIONALISM (Michael McGinnis ed., 1998).
258. Adler, supra note 240, at 346.
259. 33 U.S.C. § 1311(a) (2006) (prohibiting any discharge absent compliance with §§ 302, 306, and 307, and pursuant to permits issued under either § 402 or § 404).
260. KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL, http://www.kab.org (last visited Aug. 11, 2013).
261. My point here is not to take sides in this longstanding debate, although historically I have advocated continued and improved implementation of best technology principles, and even expanding them to nonpoint source pollution control efforts.
262. Robert W. Adler, Water Quality and Agriculture: Assessing Alternative Futures, 25 ENVIRONS 77 (2002).