Environmentalists challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and won.
Becky Hammer writes on behalf of the National Resources Defense Council to report that earlier this month, "a federal district court in Maryland ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wrongfully denied our petition to regulate harmful runoff pollution from commercial, industrial, and institutional sites in Baltimore’s Back River watershed."
"When EPA denied the petition in 2016, the agency refused to consider whether stormwater pollution from the sites is contributing to violations of water quality standards, as the Clean Water Act requires. Now a court has ruled that EPA’s decision was unlawful," adds Hammer.
The NRDC, along with American Rivers and Blue Water Baltimore, filed the petition in 2015, pushing the EPA to regulate runoff in the watershed under powers granted by the Clean Water Act.
Now the EPA must reconsider the petition, and could potentially decide to begin regulating pollution sources in the watershed, which drains Baltimore city and county. The river is already legally designated as "impaired" due to high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment pollution.
FULL STORY: NRDC Wins Court Victory on Stormwater Pollution in Baltimore

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Study: Anti-Homelessness Laws Don’t Work
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The French Solution to Congested Tunnels: Make Them Car-Free
Bay Area transportation officials keep expanding car capacity. Lyon’s Croix Rousse Tunnel offers a different way.

Missouri Governor Reverses Anti-Discrimination Housing Policies
A new state law bars cities from prohibiting source-of-income discrimination against tenants using Section 8 housing vouchers.

USDOT Launches Unfunded 'SAFE ROADS' Program
The program targets “distractions” and “political messages or artwork,” and paves the way for autonomous vehicles.
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