The Biden administration is moving forward with new permitting guidance to curb pollution that moves through groundwater in response to a landmark Supreme Court ruling.
In a decision praised by environmental advocates, the high court ruled in 2020 that wastewater treatment plants and industrial facilities must obtain federal permits for groundwater pollution that affects major bodies of water.
A state appeals court has upheld California’s cleanup standards for a cancer-causing chemical that was added to pesticides and has polluted groundwater in the Central Valley, rejecting challenges by manufacturers that may have to pay the costs.
The State Water Resources Control Board’s 2017 mandate for removing nearly all TCP (1,2,3-trichloropropane) from drinking water was contested by the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, representing Dow Chemical Co. and Shell Oil, which included the chemical in worm-killing fumigants widely used by farmers through the 1980s. They argued that the board’s criteria were not “economically feasible,” as required by state law.
