Riverkeeper, Inc. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency: Applying the Clean Water Act's Best Technology Available Standard to Existing Cooling Systems
In: Ecology Law Quarterly, Jg. 35 (2008), S. 269
Online
academicJournal
Zugriff:
In Riverkeeper, Inc. v. EPA (Riverkeeper II), the Second Circuit considered the validity of regulations recently promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Water Act (CWA or "the Act") to protect aquatic wildlife from power plant cooling systems. 1 The court held that the EPA cannot use cost-benefit analysis to determine which technologies are the best available to the industry under the CWA's "best technology available" (BTA) standard. 2 Unable to determine whether the EPA had impermissibly relied upon cost-benefit analysis in drafting the rule, the court remanded the regulations to the agency for reconsideration and fuller explanation. 3 By prohibiting cost-benefit analysis in determining BTA, the court has effectuated Congress's intent for the Clean Water Act. BACKGROUND Many power plants use cooling systems that rely on water withdrawn from rivers, lakes, and other waterways. 4 These withdrawals have substantial environmental impacts, including two kinds of harm to aquatic organisms. Large aquatic organisms are trapped against the screens that cover the intake structures ("impinged"), while small organisms are drawn into the cooling mechanism ("entrained"). 5 In order to deal with this problem, Congress included section 316(b) among its 1972 amendments to the CWA, requiring that "the location, design, construction, and capacity of cooling water intake structures reflect the best technology available for minimizing adverse environmental impact." 6 Today, three basic kinds of water-cooling systems are available. First, dry cooling systems use air drafts to transfer heat and thus virtually eliminate the need ...
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Riverkeeper, Inc. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency: Applying the Clean Water Act's Best Technology Available Standard to Existing Cooling Systems
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Gersen, - Sara |
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Zeitschrift: | Ecology Law Quarterly, Jg. 35 (2008), S. 269 |
Veröffentlichung: | 2008 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
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