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BEFORE
THE
ADMINISTRATORUNITEDSTATESENVIRONMENTALPROTECTIONAGENCY
CITIZENSPETITION
FOR
WITHDRAWAL
OF
THE
NATIONALPOLLUTANTDISCHARGEELIMINATIONSYSTEMPROGRAMDELEGATIONFROM
THE
STATE
OF
MARYLAND
I.
INTRODUCTION
TheChesapeake
Bay
watershedisincrisis.
For
morethantwentyyears,thecitizens
of
Marylandhavewatchedasbillions
of
dollarshavebeenspentoneffortstopreserve,protectandrestorethewaters
ofthe
Chesapeake
Bay
anditstributaries.Despitetheseintenseefforts,theChesapeake
Bay's
prognosisisdire.
We
arelosingour"nationaltreasure.")OurBayis
of
centralimportancetoMaryland'soverallenvironmentalqualityandeconomicfuture.Currently,avariety
of
initiativesaswellasproposedlegislationareunderconsiderationassolutionstothedecline
of
theChesapeakeBay.2However,none
of
themwillsucceedinrestoringour
Bay
withouteffectiveandconsistentimplementation
of
theunderlyingexistinglaw,theCleanWaterAct("CWA").Unfortunately,foryearsMarylandhasfailedtoadequatelyimplementthe
CW
A.
It
isforthesereasonsthatPetitioners,throughtheirundersignedcounsel,respectfullyrequestthattheUnitedStatesEnvironmentalProtectionAgency("EPA")initiateproceedingsunder
40
C.F.R.
§
123.64(b)
towithdrawapproval
of
theState
of
Maryland'sNationalPollutantDischargeEliminationSystem("NPDES")program.Petitionersrequestthat
EPA
formallyrespondtothispetitioninwriting,asrequired
by
40
C.F.R.
§123.64(b)(l)
andthatEPAnotifytheState
of
MarylandthatitisnotadministeringtheNPDESpermitprogramfordischargesintoMarylandwatersinaccordancewiththe
CW
A.
3
PetitionersfurtherrequestthatEPAevaluatethesystematicfailure
of
MarylandtoadministerandenforcetheNPDESprogram,andworkcollaborativelywiththeMaryland
I
Exec.
Order
No.
13,508,74
Fed.Reg.
23099(May15,2009)at
1.
2
Exec.
Order
No.13,508,74Fed.Reg.
23099(May
IS,2009);H.R.3852,
III
thCongo(2009);S.1816,
111
thCongo(2009);PreliminaryNotice
of
TotalMaximumDaily
Load(TMDL)DevelopmentfortheChesapeakeBay,
74
Fed.Reg.47,792(Sept.
17,2009);
Executive
Order
13508DraftStrategyforProtecting
and
RestoringtheChesapeakeBay,Nov.9,2009,
availableat
http://executiveorder.chesapeakebay.netJfi1e.axd?fi1e=2009/11/Chesapeake+Bay+Executive+Order+Draft+Strategy.pdf.
3
See
U.S.C.
§
1342(c)(3);
40
C.F.R.
§
123.64(b)(I).
1
 
Department
of
theEnvironment("MOE")andPetitionerstodevelopsolutionsandremediesfortheproblemsidentified
by
thispetitionandthosethatwill
be
identified
by
EPA's
review.
If
MOE
failstodemonstratesufficientabilityandauthoritytocarry
out
theNPDESprogram,
EPA
mustwithdrawitsapproval
of
theMarylandNPDESdelegationandassumeadministrationandenforcement
of
theprogram.
4
Citizenpetitionstowithdrawstatedelegationsareincreasinglycommonduetoacombination
of
debilitatingconditionsthatoccurredbetween
2000
and2009.Theseconditionscreatedpowerfulincentivesforstategovernmentstoget
by
with
only
minimalefforttoimplementtheirfederallydelegatedauthority.Fundingshortfalls,weakanderraticenforcement,andwidespreadfailure
of
politicalwillatthenationallevelunderminedtheresolve
of
statesalreadybeset
by
budgetproblems
of
theirown.Duringthistimeperiod,
EPA
failedtomonitortheadequacy
of
stateprogramsaggressively,asCongressclearlyintended.PresidentBarackObamaand
EPA
AdministratorLisaJacksonhavepledgedtoimprove
CWA
implementationandenforcementandhaveannouncedseveralinitiativestoimprove
EPA's
performanceandleadershipincarrying
out
themandatescontainedinthe
CW
A.
However,unlesstheyfocusattention
on
thelegallyinsufficientperformance
of
theirstatepartners,theseextraordinarilyimportanteffortswillhavesignificantlylesschance
of
succeeding.Specifically,newprogramsandtheinfusion
of
dramaticallyexpandedfederalresourcestoacceleratetherestoration
of
theChesapeakeBaywill
be
underminedby
Maryland's
inabilitytoeffectivelyimplementandenforcethe
CW
Aatitsmostbasic
level-
thepermitstructure.ThecrisisinMaryland's
CWA
programshasdeveloped
overmany
years,involvingelectedandappointedofficialsfrombothparties.Thecitizens
of
Marylanddeservetohavetheirtaxdollarsspent
onBay
restorationspentwisely.Toensurethatthishappens,theweaknesses
of
Maryland'sNPDESprogrammust
be
addressedimmediately.
A.
PETITIONERS
PetitionersareWaterkeepersChesapeake
of
Maryland("Waterkeepers"),acoalition
of
twelveindependentWaterkeeperprograms,SaswellasWaterkeeperAlliance.
41d.
S
Theseincludethefollowingprograms:AnacostiaRiverkeeper,AssateagueCoastkeeper,BaltimoreHarborWaterkeeper,ChesterRiverkeeper,ChoptankRiverkeeper,LowerSusquehannaRiverkeeper,PatuxentRiverkeeper,PotomacRiverkeeper("PRK"),SassafrasRiverkeeper,SevernRiverkeeper,SouthRiverkeeper,WestlRhodeRiverkeeper.
2
 
Thememberprograms
of
WaterkeepersChesapeake
of
MarylandworktoprotectandrestoretheChesapeakeandCoastalBaysandtheirtributaries
by
sharingresourcesandleveragingtheirindividualstrengthstoexpandeachWaterkeeper'scapacityforonthewater,citizen-basedenforcement
of
environmentallaws.Theypatrolthousands
of
miles
of
tributariesandshorelinesintheirindividualwatershedsthroughouttheChesapeakeandCoastalBays,andareattheforefront
of
advocacyforstrong,enforceablepermits,citizenactivismand,whennecessary,vigorousenforcement
of
existinglaws.TheseWaterkeepersspearheadedtheGettheDirtOutprogramacrosstheChesapeakeBaywatershedtoprotectthewaterwaysfromhannfulconstructionstormwaterrunoff.Sincebeginningtheprogramin2007,WaterkeeperstrainedovertwohundredlocalcitizenstomonitorconstructionsitesintheBaywatershedtopreventdamagecaused
by
sediment-ladenrunofffromconstructionsitesandlanddevelopment.WaterkeeperAllianceisanon-profitenvironmentalorganizationthatrepresentstheinterests
of
nearly200individualWaterkeepersaroundtheworld.Themission
of
theAllianceistoprotectwaterresourcesonbothalocalandgloballevel.
In
ordertoachieveitsgoal
of
swimmable,fishable,anddrinkablewaterwaysworldwide,theAlliancereliesonthegrassrootsadvocacyoflocalWaterkeepers,includingco-petitioners,WaterkeepersChesapeake
of
Maryland.
In
addition,theAllianceconnectsindividualWaterkeeperorganizationstoeachotherandsupportsthem
by
providingexpertiseinscience,law,strategicplanningandcommunications.B.
LEGALFRAMEWORK
In
1972,CongresspassedamendmentstotheFederalWaterPollutionControlAct,whichisknownastheCWA,outliningthebasicstructure
of
theNPDESpermitprogram.TheNPDESpermitprogramregulatesthedischarge
of
pollutantsfrompointsourcesintowaters
of
theUnitedStates.Pointsourcedischargesincludesurfacewaterrunoff,suchasstormwaterrunoff,thatiscollectedandchanneled
by
humaneffort.
6
EPAmayauthorizeastatetoadministertheNPDESprogram.Underthisauthority,adelegatedstatemustimplementallaspects
ofthe
NPDESprogramincludingpermitting,enforcement,andinspections.EPA.however,retainstheabilitytooverseethestateprograms.
7
In
1989,EPAandMDEenteredintoaMemorandum
of
Agreement("MOAn)delegatingtheCWANPDESprogramtotheState
of
Maryland.TheMOAestablisheskeyrequirementstoensurethat
MDE's
NPDESprogramisatleastasstringentas
EPA's
NPDESprogram.The
640
C.F.R.
§
122.2.733U.S.C.
§
1342(b);
40
C.F.R.Part123.
3
of 00

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