Arkansas Water Quality Standards Rejected.

The plaintiff, a chemical manufacturing plant, discharged dissolved minerals into two tributaries that ultimately flowed into regulated waters.  The state (AR) imposed more stringent water quality standards that impacted the plaintiff's discharges and gave the plaintiff three years to comply.  The plaintiff, however, filed a third party rulemaking which would allow it to continue the same level of discharges of minerals into the tributaries.  The state adopted the plaintiff's proposed revisions and submitted them to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval.  The EPA rejected the changes on the basis that aquatic life in the downstream regulated waters  would not be adequately protected.  The trial court upheld the EPA position.  On appeal, the court affirmed, upholding the EPA regulations that allowed it to examine downstream waters when evaluating a state's water quality standards and noting that AR's supporting documentation was inadequate.  The EPA had a rational basis for adopting the regulations and the EPA's rejection was neither arbitrary nor capricious.  Eldorado Chemical Company v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, No. 13-1936, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 15694 (8th Cir. Aug. 15, 2014).