Environmental groups sue EPA on Cape Cod pollution
Cape Cod's bays and estuaries could be stripped of marine life and made unusable for humans if nitrogen from septic systems and other sources continues to pour unabated into coastal waters, two environmental organizations said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the federal government.
The suit filed by the Conservation Law Foundation and the Coalition for Buzzards Bay alleges that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not fulfilled its requirements under federal law to adequately regulate the discharge of nitrogen into Cape Cod's bays.
The suit's intent is to spur the EPA into accelerating the cleanup process.
"The destruction of Cape Cod's bays and estuaries must not be allowed to continue unchecked," Conservation Law Foundation President John Kassel said in a statement. "Decades of foot-dragging are now threatening the very lifeblood of the Cape. We know the culprit and we know the solution."
The EPA must make the cleanup of Cape Cod waters a priority as it has done with Chesapeake Bay, he said.
EPA spokeswoman Paula Ballentine said in a statement that while the agency has not yet reviewed the lawsuit and had no immediate comment, it is committed to reducing nitrogen levels.
"Cape Cod is an environmental treasure and must be protected," the statement said.
Excess nitrogen from septic systems, stormwater runoff and wastewater treatment facilities can cause algae blooms that choke off oxygen, threatening marine life and making the waters unsuitable for swimming, boating and shellfish harvesting.
The lawsuit says excess nitrogen "decreases water clarity, produces unpleasant odors and scums and reduces dissolved oxygen levels," and has already caused fish kills and a significant decline in eelgrass, a "cornerstone species" in the ecosystem.
The lawsuit calls for nitrogen from those three sources to be more stringently regulated. The lawsuit says the EPA violated the Clean Water Act and the Administrative Procedure Act when it failed to identify nitrogen pollution from these three sources as "point" sources, and thus did not seek to reduce their contribution to nitrogen pollution.
The Cape's geology exacerbates the situation. Wastewater from septic systems moves faster through the area's coarse, sandy soils.
The two environmental groups also issued a 60-day notice of intent to sue the EPA, the Cape Cod Commission and the Barnstable County Commission over allegations that they have failed to implement an area wastewater management program first published in 1978.
The plan identified nitrogen pollution as a serious threat to Cape Cod's waters and was intended to provide a comprehensive approach to improve water quality.
While the Cape Cod Commission does not comment on pending litigation, Executive Director Paul Niedzwiecki said, wastewater management remains one of the agency's top priorities.
The lawsuit could set standards that would apply to the regulation of nitrogen discharges in saltwater areas nationwide, the Conservation Law Foundation said.
