Virginia is not the only state challenging the EPA over regulations, Florida has raised similar issues. A federal lawsuit was filed on January 11, 2011 against the EPA by The Florida League of Cities Inc. (FLC) and Florida Stormwater Association Inc. (FSA) over new regulations.
The FLC and FSA believe that EPA’s rules have no valid scientific basis and use faulty assumptions. Along with that, they also state that the regulations don’t follow the Regulatory Flexibility Act.
The Regulatory Flexibility Act states that agencies must consider the impacts of proposed regulations on small local governments and businesses. Rebecca O’Hara, Director of Legislative Affairs for The FLC explains this by saying, “We all want clean water. However, the EPA’s mandates seem like they will do more to harm Florida’s local government taxpayers than provide real results.”
To find more information about Florida’s complaint, read the article by StormH2O.com here.
In Virginia, we are also faced with new regulations from the EPA. Numerous groups representing various interests across the Commonwealth have voiced similar concerns. It remains to be seen how this will play out in the courts and how these concerns are ultimately addressed by EPA.
Details on how the regulations were determined can be found here.
