FME Law Sues US EPA on behalf of the Occoquan Watershed Coalition
Today[July 25, 2012] the Free-Market Environmental Law Clinic files suit representing the Occoquan Watershed Coalition (OWC ) against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The OWC alleges that EPA has violated the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by imposing a water quantity standard on Virginia and Fairfax County that will cost as much as $225 million. If the County is forced to spend that much money on a single watershed, it will mean not one of the other 29 watersheds in the County will receive funds for their restoration, including the eight watersheds in the OWC’s territory.
Accotink Creek, with about 120 miles of shoreline, is one of 30 watersheds in Fairfax County Virginia. The stream has a small portion of its stream bed, 8.19 miles (6.8%) listed as “impaired” because soils from the banks of the creek have eroded and that soil (sediment) falls to the bottom on the creek harming the ecosystem on the stream bed.
To address this problem, Fairfax County would normally place rock against those parts of the stream bank that erode the most, and take other actions that fit within its budget. Fairfax County recognizes that this is but one of 30 watersheds it needs to restore and it must balance needs throughout the County. Fairfax County currently budgets less than $5 million per year for on the ground, dirty boots watershed restoration county-wide.
Virginia and Fairfax County have been working together to address Accotink Creek, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has rejected those efforts and in their place adopted a new water quantity standard that limits the total amount of water that can be discharged into the stream each day. It is this new federal unfunded mandate that is unconstitutional and being challenged by the OWC.
Fairfax County estimates that the EPA requirement will cost the county as much as $225 million. To place that in perspective, the county could build 75 miles of divided four-lane highway for the same amount. In other terms, $225 million is 65.2 percent of the county’s annual operating expenses (General Fund Direct Expenditures).
“The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that this kind of coercive federal mandate on a local government is simply not allowed” explains Dr. David W. Schnare, Director of the FME Law Clinic. “Because Fairfax County and the Commonwealth of Virginia refused to raise this constitutional challenge in their recent suit against EPA, the citizens directly harmed by EPA are the only ones left to protect the rights and privileges of the Commonwealth and FME Law is representing their interests. Without that assistance, the serious problems in 29 watershed will go unaddressed while EPA asks Fairfax County to empty its coffers in a vain effort to fix a problem of minor significance.”
A copy of the complaint is available on the FME Law website at: OWC versus EPA. For further information, contact Dr. Schnare at [email protected]
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