RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS

March 2007

To read this entire item of approximately 1300 words online now in PDF format: Click here to read this item if you are an existing subscriber to this publication. Click here to purchase the full text of this item to read now (price: $25). To subscribe to this publication and immediately access all its archives including this item, select the relevant publication under 'Catalogue' in the left-hand column PLEASE NOTE: to read PDFs on www.argento.com you must be using Version 5 of Acrobat Reader or Adobe Reader. If you have an earlier version you can download the latest free of charge by clicking here

Tenth Circuit Rules that U.S. EPA’s Prosecution under the Clean Water Act Precludes Citizen’s Suit and Citizen’s Notice Is Defective
Karr, et al. v. Hefner, et al., ___ F.3d___

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma that a citizen’s suit against violators of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) must be dismissed where the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has diligently prosecuted an action against two of the defendants and where the notice filed by the citizen fails to place the other defendants on notice of their alleged violations. The Court of Appeals held that entry of a consent decree entered into by U.S. EPA and the GHK Companies precluded a citizens suit on those same violations. The case was dismissed against the remaining defendants because the notice required under the Clean Water Act filed to identify the activity constituting the violation, failed to identify the standard, limitation or order violated, failed to identify the dates of the violations, and failed to link violations with violators or locations.