ELR Citation: 55 ELR 20138
No(s). 24-cv-1654 (DLF) (D.D.C. Sep 29, 2025) (Friedrich, J.)

A district court granted EPA's motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to compel agency action regarding regulation of sewage sludge under the CWA. Texas farmers and ranchers sued EPA, arguing the Agency failed to identify 18 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as present in sewage sludge and to regulate a set of 11 PFAS listed in its earlier biennial reports. They also argued the Agency's failure to include the 18 PFAS in its latest biennial report was arbitrary and capricious and that its failure to regulate certain PFAS constituted an unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed action. The court found that while the plain language of the CWA imposed a nondiscretionary duty on EPA to review its regulations on a biennial basis, it did not mandate that the Agency identify and regulate sewage sludge pollutants with the same time frame. It also found that neither the biennial report nor EPA's failure to list pollutants in the report constituted final agency action subject to review. It granted EPA's motion to dismiss.