The NWPR eliminates Clean Water Act protection for many aquatic ecosystems and thus will cause irreparable harm to all Americans who benefit from and rely on the integrity of the Nation’s waters. As the EPA’s own Science Advisory Board concluded, the NWPR lacks a scientific justification. Science alone does not dictate Clean Water Act policy, but science cannot be disregarded. The Agencies failed to consider the extent to which their actions will reduce Clean Water Act jurisdiction by ignoring available scientific tools and data. Their actions were thus arbitrary and capricious. As such, and for the foregoing reasons, amici curiae respectfully request that this Court grant Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment.
The signing societies included:
- American Fisheries Society
- Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography
- Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation
- International Association for Great Lakes Research
- North American Lake Management Society
- Phycological Society of America
- Society for Ecological Restoration
- Society for Freshwater Science
- Society of Wetland Scientists