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Climate Change Comes To The Clean Water Act: Now What?, Robin Kundis Craig

Washington and Lee Journal of Energy, Climate, and the Environment

In January 2009, the EPA agreed to respond to the Center for Biological Diversity’s (CBD’s) petition requesting it to modify its marine pH water quality criteria to reflect ocean acidification. Ocean acidification, however, is a by-product of increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Thus, climate change has come to the Clean Water Act—and in May 2009, the CBD filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Washington to bring this point home. The question, of course, is what the Clean Water Act can actually contribute to efforts to deal with climate change. After reviewing the …