What the other players think The Natural Resources Defense Council and similar environmental groups generally applaud EPA's efforts to regulate non-point sources of water pollution. The American Farm Bureau Federation, an intervenor in the case for the Pronsolinos, concurs with Richardson. EPA action rests on shaky ground EPA's efforts to tightly regulate sediment runoff are controversial as a matter of sound science. According to the National Academy of Sciences, between 25 and 60 percent of sediment deposition into waters is due to air deposition, not run-off. Allocating sediment reductions between non-point sources and background loading is difficult.
Landowners often find themselves held responsible for sediment coming from background sources.
As the Pronsolinos discovered, landowners can be required to make deep cutbacks in their land use activities in order to make up for background sediment loadings over which they have no control. Contending that EPA lacks the authority to control non-point sources of pollution through the TMDL process, the Pronsolinos have asked the court to overrule EPA's decision to regulate the Garcia River. They have been joined in the suit by the American Farm Bureau Federation, California Farm Bureau Federation, and Mendocino County Farm Bureau. All parties are proceeding with discovery, and at press time no further action has been taken. Jefferson G. Edgens is a natural resource policy expert with the University of Kentucky.