Eight Circuit Vacates EPA’s Illegal Rules Banning Blending and Bacteria Mixing Zones: EPA’s Determination that the Decision Only Applies in the Eight Circuit and The Implications For Communities

At the beginning of 2013, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals thoroughly renounced the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) attempts to revise, without rulemaking, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) rules to limit wet weather treatment options (i.e., the use of blending) and prevent the use of bacteria mixing zones when permitting NPDES discharges. Iowa League of Cities v. EPA, 711 F.3d 844 (8th Cir. 2013). The Court also concluded that a blending prohibition was beyond EPA’s statutory authority. At the time, the Iowa League decision represented a major victory for municipal interests across the country as it saved communities an estimated $150 billion nationwide by renouncing the blending ban alone. However, since the decision was handed down, EPA has announced that it has determined it will only implement the decision in the 8th Circuit, leaving the rest of the country in disarray guessing whether or not blending or bacteria mixing zones bans apply to them. This paper discusses the ramification of the Iowa League decision on collections, operations, and compliance of treatment plants including the consequences of EPA’s announcement to apply the decision only in the 8th circuit.