EPA Seeks Public Comments Regarding Ocean Acidification and the Clean Water Act

Last month, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a notice in the Federal Register soliciting public comment on the effects of "ocean acidification" as it relates to the listing of impaired waters under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA).  Ocean acidification is a decrease in ocean pH caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.  According to EPA, the oceans have been absorbing one third of human-caused CO2 emissions since pre-industrial times, and acidification is increasingly harming ocean ecosystems, fisheries, and other marine resources.  

The EPA notice was prompted by a legal settlement between the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and EPA.  As part of that settlement, EPA agreed to consider issuing guidance regarding when waters threatened or impaired by ocean acidification should be listed and, if so, what that potential guidance might entail.  In May 2009, CBD filed