Opinion ID: 216847
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Effect of Remand in Environmental Defense Center, Inc. v. EPA

Text: In Environmental Defense Center, 344 F.3d at 863, in 2003 we remanded to EPA a portion of its Phase II stormwater regulations to allow EPA to consider, inter alia, whether stormwater discharges from logging roads should be included in Phase II regulations. Amicus United States suggests that we delay ruling on the question whether stormwater discharges from logging roads must obtain permits under § 402(p)that is, under Phase I regulationsuntil EPA has responded to the remand. We have just held that § 402(p) provides that stormwater runoff from logging roads that is collected in a system of ditches, culverts, and channels is a discharge associated with industrial activity, and that such a discharge is subject to the NPDES permitting process under Phase I. Whether EPA might, or might not, provide further regulation of stormwater runoff from logging roads in its Phase II regulations does not reduce its statutory obligation under § 402(p). We therefore see no reason to wait for EPA's action in response to our remand in Environmental Defense Center.