Breaking down the new Lake Erie lawsuit against the EPA

TOLEDO, Ohio — Last week, the City of Toledo, Lucas County, and Environmental Law & Policy Center filed a joint lawsuit against the U.S. EPA, in an effort to “compel the agency to comply with its obligations under the Clean Water Act and prevent harmful algal blooms in western Lake Erie.”

The story of how we got to this point dates back to 2019, when the U.S. EPA approved the Ohio EPA’s plan to clean up Lake Erie, which resulted in the creation of a Total Maximum Daily Load — or “pollution diet” — for the lake.

But the plaintiffs in this lawsuit say that the state’s plan should have never been approved under the Clean Water Act, because they don’t believe it aligned with the law by not regulating CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations). Advocates believe they are, in part, responsible for the issues we’re seeing, due to the waste they create. Waste they say flows into streams and, eventually, the lake.

The EPA’s summary of the Clean Water Act, is that the law “made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained,” but it’s clear from the plaintiffs’ lawsuit that they believe this law is only as good as it reads on paper.

Update: The EPA has responded to my request for comment.

“EPA received the lawsuit from the city of Toledo and is currently reviewing. Addressing the problem of algal blooms in the western basin of Lake Erie will take all of us. It will take unflagging commitment and resolve. And it will take time.”