On May 20, 2024, the NAM filed an amicus brief urging the D.C. District Court to vacate EPA’s final rule setting Washington’s water quality standards. In this case, EPA imposed water quality standards on Washington state. It based those standards, in part, on the fish consumption rate of Indian tribes within the state, instead of consumption rates of the general population, to reflect consideration of tribal treaty-reserved rights to fish. Business groups sued EPA arguing that the standards—set so low that they cannot be measured with existing technologies—are arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Our brief underscores the threat to permitting and growth of domestic manufacturing if the district court upholds EPA’s infeasible water quality standards. Further, EPA’s novel reliance on treaties with Indian Tribes for the imposed standards exceeds the agency’s authority under the Clean Water Act. If allowed to stand, this approach could enable EPA to override state-established CWA standards whenever it deems them inconsistent with its own, EPA-specific interpretation of tribal treaty rights, regardless of the scientific basis of its decision.