Ocean Acidification the Next Lawsuit Subject?

According to the website Business Green, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent to sue EPA under the Clean Water Act for failing to list the ocean off the state of Washington as an impaired water, due to ocean acidification caused by excessive carbon dioxide in the air. This was done under the total maximum daily load (TMDL) program, Section 303 of the CWA, which requires all states to list water bodies that aren't meeting water quality standards, and to prepare a plan for limiting discharges to the water bodies until they meet those standards. The TMDL program was originally conceived to reduce pollutant loading from storm water and process water discharges, but some of the most intractable problems are caused by air deposition of substances like mercury. Violations of water quality caused by air deposition, like acid rain, can't be addressed by the usual means of limiting point source and nonpoint source discharges to the waters.

Notices of intent to sue are filed 60 days before suit can be filed, to allow the EPA Administrator to take appropriate action. I doubt that, in the next 60 days, the Pacific Ocean will be listed on the 303(d) list for pH violations. Even if it is, what will the plan be for coming into compliance?

The Center should be careful what it asks for. Congress is already reportedly looking at overhauling the TMDL program because of problems like this one. Trying to control greenhouse gases through the TMDL program might be the sort of thing that exposes the difficulties and even absurdities that are inherent in both programs, and may lead to changes that make them more reasonable and, at the same time, less far reaching.