Supes Agree to Support Suit Against EPA

Thursday, February 24, 2011

James City County Republican Supervisors decided Tuesday that it’s a good idea to support a regional legal appeal to the Environmental Protection Agency’s new Chesapeake Bay “pollution diet.”

The Hampton Roads Planning Commission District, a regional organization representing the area's 16 local governments, has argued since the plan’s inception that the EPA’s new pollution restrictions on Bay states will cripple localities with the projected costs of compliance. The HRPDC estimated in October that the plan could cost Triangle localities a combined $85 million each year.

Supervisor Bruce Goodson let the board know in an email last Friday that the HRPDC intended to consider pursuing a legal challenge to the EPA, and he said Tuesday evening that the group’s legal advisor felt that the HRPDC had a strong case. Democratic county supervisors voiced their strong objections to the suit during the board's meeting, but were voted down by Republicans with little discussion.

Goodson said Tuesday night that he wasn’t convinced the federal government knows better than the county regarding the issue.

He outlined the five main complaints the HRPDC submitted to the EPA, the most important of which is the group’s belief that the EPA doesn’t have the legal authority to establish a compliance deadline for states (read the full list on the HRPDC website). The HRPDC’s attorney said the case was a strong one, according to Goodson.

Goodson said the deadline is “arbitrary and capricious” and that it “adds significant cost” to comply with the new regulations within the short time period. Some of the goals could be achieved over a longer period of time by changing various local government processes, he argued, at a lesser cost.

Supervisor John McGlennon said the county has heard a lot about the importance of cleaning the Bay over the years. “We’ve dragged our heels here in Virginia over years and years and years,” he said. “This is just one more effort for us to say… just not yet.”

He also pointed out that the HRPDC would be using public money to file the lawsuit, and that the deadline was actually outlined in Virginia’s state cleanup plan and was not set by the EPA.

“We have a long-overdue obligation to clean up the Bay,” McGlennon said.

When Supervisor Jim Icenhour moved that the board not support the HRPDC plan, Chairman Mary Jones and Supervisor Jim Kennedy voted with Goodson without any more discussion and put the issue to rest.

The HRPDC is set to discuss the suit on March 17.