Groups challenge state's wastewater permit authority

JUNEAU - Native villages in Bristol Bay and conservation groups on Thursday challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to delegate Clean Water Act permitting and enforcement to Alaska.

EPA has run Clean Water Act wastewater permitting for decades. The act envisioned that EPA would eventually delegate the authority, and 45 states have taken it on now.

EPA is transferring the permitting program to Alaska in phases over the next several years.

The agency doesn't give up its own authority, and will review Alaska's permits in the first few years to make sure they can comply.

But Alaska is unique, says Trustees for Alaska, the legal nonprofit representing the challengers: Those who sue in the public interest can be forced, if they lose, to pay their opponents' legal costs.

The state says it won't seek such damages. But Vicki Clark, Trustees for Alaska legal director, said that doesn't stop industry intervenors from doing so.

Also, the state can't assess administrative civil penalties, which the Trustees group says is an important deterrent.

Trustees of Alaska filed the challenge in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 1.

The legal group represents the Akiak Native Community, Nunamta Aulukestai (eight Bristol Bay Native village corporations), Nondalton Tribal Council, Curyung Tribal Council in Dillingham, Cook Inletkeeper, Alaska Center for the Environment, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Center for Water Advocacy.