Board of Lucas County Commissioners v. EPA

The Board of Lucas County Commissioners, City of Toledo, and Environmental Law & Policy Center filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Ohio challenging EPA’s approval of a Total Maximum Daily Load for western Lake Erie (the Maumee Watershed Nutrient TMDL) under the Clean Water Act. The defects alleged by the plaintiffs in the TMDL include that it fails to incorporate an adequate “margin of safety.” One reason for this alleged inadequacy is “uncertainties raised by climate change.” The plaintiffs allege that “[c]limate change is making the HAB problem worse, as more intense storms drive more runoff from agricultural fields and warmer temperatures in Lake Erie promote more cyanobacteria growth. As rain becomes less predictable, agricultural operators are less able to time how and when they apply manure or commercial fertilizer to reduce risk of runoff.”