Washington DC - June 25, 2025 - Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with environmental groups and found that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acted unlawfully when it decided not to update the water pollution control standards for seven major industries as part of EPA’s Final Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 (Program Plan 15), released in 2023.
“Clean Water Action applauds the Court’s decision,” said Jeff Carter, President & CEO for Clean Water Action. “The water pollution control standards for these seven industries are woefully outdated, including some that are more than 40 years old. This ruling makes it clear that EPA must regularly update their water pollution standards, especially as technology improves, to protect our communities from harmful wastewater pollution.”
As part of Program Plan 15, EPA declined to revise the Effluent Limitation Guidelines (ELGs) for Petroleum Refining; Organic Chemicals, Plastics, and Synthetic Fibers Manufacturing (“OCPSF”); Inorganic Chemical Manufacturing; Fertilizer Manufacturing; Pesticide Chemical Manufacturing; Plastics Molding and Forming Facilities; and Nonferrous Metals Manufacturing. ELGs are standards that limit the amount of pollution industrial facilities can discharge into surface waters such as our rivers, lakes, bays, and streams.
The court’s ruling requires EPA to reconsider its decision to update the ELGs for these seven industries.
The lawsuit was filed by the Environmental Integrity Project, the Center for Biological Diversity, Clean Water Action, Waterkeeper Alliance, Food & Water Watch, Environment America, Bayou City Waterkeeper, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Healthy Gulf, San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, San Francisco Baykeeper, the Surfrider Foundation and Tennessee Riverkeeper.
Since the organization’s founding during the campaign to pass the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, Clean Water Action has worked to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking, and people power to the table. Learn more at cleanwater.org