Lawsuit Challenges Approval Of TMDLs For Failure To Consider Climate Change

The Conservation Law Foundation has filed a lawsuit against EPA, alleging that EPA's approval of nitrogen total maximum daily loads ("TMDLs") in embayments located on Cape Cod and Nantucket violated the Clean Water Act, in part because EPA did not analyze the impact of climate change. Conservation Law Found., Inc. v. U.S. Envtl. Prot. Agency, No. 1:13-cv-12704-MLW (D. Mass. Oct. 24, 2013).

The Conservation Law Foundation brought similar claims against EPA back in 2010, but the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted EPA's motion for summary judgment on August 29, 2013, holding that plaintiffs did not have standing to assert their claims. Conservation Law Found., Inc. v. U.S. Envtl. Prot. Agency, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123731, No. 1:10-cv-11455-MLW (D. Mass. Aug. 29, 2013). With regard to its climate change allegations, plaintiffs relied on affidavits from two members, but the court held the affidavits were insufficient to "place injury