Overnight Energy: Court upholds EPA’s Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan

by Timothy Cama and Devin Henry - 07/06/15 6:10 PM ET

EPA WINS IN CHESAPEAKE BAY CASE: The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) massive pollution control plan for the Chesapeake Bay is legal, a federal court ruled Monday.

The unanimous three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit disagreed with agricultural and industry objections to the plan. Those groups argued that the EPA exceeded its authority under the Clean Water Act by setting Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) limits for pollutants in the watershed.

{mosads}”Congress made a judgment in the Clean Water Act that the states and the EPA could, working together, best allocate the benefits and burdens of lowering pollution,” Judge Thomas Ambro wrote for the court.

“The Chesapeake Bay TMDL will require sacrifice by many, but that is a consequence of the tremendous effort it will take to restore health to the Bay — to make it once again a part of our ‘land of living’ … a goal our elected representatives have repeatedly endorsed.”

The ruling vindicated the EPA, along with the states and environmental groups supporting the Obama administration’s 2010 cleanup plan.

Read more here.

ON TAP TUESDAY I: EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will be the featured speaker in a conversation Tuesday with the Christian Science Monitor. She will discuss the Obama administration’s climate change policies and the lead-up to the Paris climate talks this December.

ON TAP TUESDAY II: The Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee will hold a hearing on a water management bill. Tom Iseman, the deputy assistant secretary for water and science at the Department of Interior, will testify.

Rest of Tuesday’s agenda …

The group Moms Clean Air Force will hold a rally at the Capitol about EPA methane regulations. Read more here.

AROUND THE WEB:

South Dakota’s Public Utilities Commission will hold a hearing tonight on TransCanada Corp.’s Keystone XL permit through the state, the Associated Press reports.

Koch Industries spent at least 500,000 euro ($552,797) over the past three years lobbying the European Union on policies like environmental justice, the Guardian reports.

Oklahoma’s state seismologist is leaving to take a job with the United States Geological Survey, StateImpact Oklahoma reports.

Smoke from wildfires in Canada are making for hazy conditions in parts of the United States. Air quality in Washington is fine, the Seattle Times reports, but Minnesota officials put out an air alert on Monday, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

Check out Monday’s stories…

-GOP senator pushes EPA to justify water rule
-Sierra Club slams Sen. Mark Kirk in Illinois ad
-Court sides with EPA on Chesapeake cleanup plan
-Moms, kids to hold Capitol ‘play-in‘ on climate change
-GOP climate activist gives $500K to senator’s campaign
-Australia electric emissions rise after carbon tax ends
-Greens plan week of protests against oil trains
-Stakes rise for climate summit
-Greens go all in to fight Arctic drilling