"The EPA’s determination that it “categorically” can’t regulate pollution-via-groundwater under the Clean Water Act is entitled to deference despite “opening a gaping regulatory loophole,” the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said Nov. 26.

The decision comes after the Supreme Court heard arguments over the same question in County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund on Nov. 6.

At issue in the Massachusetts case is a wastewater treatment facility at the Wychmere Beach Club on Cape Cod, where treated wastewater seeps through the groundwater into Wychmere Harbor. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection found that the discharges were partially responsible for excessive nitrogen in the harbor."

Ellen M. Gilmer and Blake Brittain report for Bloomberg Environment November 26, 2019. [2]