ELR Citation: 44 ELR 20167
No(s). 13-2200 (4th Cir. Jul 14, 2014)

The Fourth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying an environmental group's motion to intervene in a poultry farmer's lawsuit against EPA. In that case, the farmer seeks a declaratory judgment that farmyard stormwater runoff is statutorily exempt from regulation as an agricultural stormwater discharge under the CWA. The lower court denied the group's motion to intervene as untimely. The appellate court agreed. When the group moved to intervene, the proceedings below had already reached a relatively advanced stage. In addition, the group candidly acknowledges that it had closely monitored the proceedings in the lawsuit and made a strategic decision not to devote its limited resources to the matter at an earlier stage because it thought the court would grant EPA's motion to dismiss (it did not). This strategic decision "engenders little sympathy."