Opinion ID: 170085
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Facts Related to Claim Under the Clean Water Act

Text: In 2000 the Pole Mountain area began suffering from a drought. Consequently, by 2002 the Forest Service was advising grazing permittees of the need to make operational adjustments. The 2002 annual operating instructions (AOIs) instituted moderate reductions in the amount of authorized grazing. Through a combination of the AOIs' reductions and apparently voluntary adjustments by permittees, cattle grazing in Pole Mountain was reduced by 48% from the maximum allowed under the permits. In October 2002 the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) found that at one of three tested locations in Pole MountainNorth Branch North Fork Crow Creek, in the Crow Creek allotmentthe state water-quality standard for fecal coliform was exceeded. See XXX-XXX-XXX Wyo. Code R. § 27 (Weil 2007) (fecal-coliform standard). The level of coliform bacteria is used as an indicator of possible sewage contamination because they are commonly found in human and animal feces and suggest the presence of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and protozoans. See Envtl. Prot. Agency, What Are Fecal Bacteria and Why Are They Important?, available at http://www.epa.gov/ volunteer/stream/vms511.html. The Forest Service was notified of the WDEQ's finding in November 2002. For the 2003 grazing season, AOIs for Pole Mountain allotments further reduced the amount of authorized grazing. In Crow Creek, where the high fecalcoliform readings had been taken, the 2003 AOIs authorized only 1559 animal months of grazing, significantly less than the 2047 animal months allowed under the grazing permits and the 1932 animal months allowed under the 2002 AOIs. Ultimately there were only 1253 actual animal months of grazing in Crow Creek in 2003, a 39% reduction from the amount allowed under the grazing permits. Overall, 2003 cattle grazing in Pole Mountain was 47% lower than that allowed under the permits. The WDEQ took more samples in 2003. Samples in the spring showed no excessive levels of fecal coliform; fall samples, however, revealed excessive levels once again at North Branch North Fork Crow Creek in the Crow Creek allotment and now also at Middle Crow Creek in the Green Mountain allotment. As a result, in 2004 the State of Wyoming added these stream areas to its Clean Water Act (CWA) list of waters not meeting state standards. See 33 U.S.C. § 1313(d)(1); 40 C.F.R. § 130.7. The CWA requires states to prioritize all waters not meeting state standards, taking into account the severity of the pollution and the uses to be made of such waters. 33 U.S.C. § 1313(d)(1)(A). The prioritization identifies those waters for which the state will first calculate the maximum daily load of pollutants that the body of water can accept without violating water-quality standards. See id. § (d)(1)(C); 40 C.F.R. § 130.2(I) (definition of total maximum daily load); id. § (f) (water's loading capacity is greatest amount of pollutant it can receive without violating water-quality standards). This process can take several years. See id. § 130.7(b)(4) (The priority ranking shall specifically include the identification of waters targeted for [total maximum daily load] development in the next two years.). The stream areas in Pole Mountain were given a low priority for development of these standards. WDEQ justified this low prioritization on the ground that the water quality in these areas was to be addressed by the Crow Creek Watershed Steering Committee, which was comprised of conservation districts, local-government officials, and various interest groups. Also in 2004 the Forest Service prepared a Water Quality Action Plan identifying the measures that it would take to ensure [that] water quality in the impaired stream segments of the North Branch North Fork Crow Creek and Middle Crow Creek will consistently meet Wyoming State DEQ standards. Aplees. Jt. Supp. App. Vol. 1 at 239. It once again reduced stock numbers from the maximums allowed under the permits by limiting authorization for grazing in the AOIs for the Crow Creek and Green Mountain allotments. The 2004 AOIs for Crow Creek authorized only 1368 animal months of grazing compared to the 2047 specified in the grazing permits and the 1559 authorized in the 2003 AOIs. The 2004 AOIs for Green Mountain authorized 1710 animal months of grazing compared to the 2252 specified in the grazing permits and 1535 in the 2003 AOIs. Ultimately, grazing in the Crow Creek allotment was 43% lower than that allowed under the permits, and grazing in the Green Mountain allotment was 30% lower. At the end of the 2004 grazing season, only one location, North Branch North Fork Crow Creek, exceeded fecal-coliform standards, although the level was less than one-fourth of that in 2003. The Forest Service and conservation districts entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to amend the Crow Creek Watershed plan to address the high bacteria levels in the area. As the memorandum explains, The watershed plan would identify potential pollution sources and identify practices . . . intended to improve water quality. Id. Vol. 2 at 257.