Plaintiff is a chicken farmer who challenged an EPA Compliance order pursuant to the Clean Water Act (CWA) claiming that rainwater polluted with dander, manure, and other fine particulates stemming from plaintiff’s poultry CAFO was polluting nearby streams. Plaintiff filed her lawsuit alleging that the discharge constituted "agricultural stormwater," which is exempt from the CWA's permitting requirements. The EPA withdrew its Compliance Order and then sought to dismiss the lawsuit, contending that its withdrawal of the Compliance Order rendered the entire proceeding moot. The plaintiff disagreed, maintaining that the district court retained jurisdiction because the EPA had not altered its position that her farm remained subject to the CWA's discharge permitting requirements. The court denied the EPA's motion to dismiss and granted motions by several clean water advocacy organizations to intervene as defendants. One day after the plaintiff filed her motion for summary judgment, pursuant to the court’s scheduling order, another environmental group filed a motion to intervene pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a), and, alternatively Rule 24(b). the district court denied the motion to intervene on the grounds that it was untimely and would unduly delay the adjudication of the other parties’ rights. In affirming the denial, the Fourth Circuit found that the district court had properly determined (1) how far the underlying suit had progressed; (2) the prejudice any resulting delay might cause the other parties; and (3) why the movant was tardy in filing its motion. The environmental group’s strategic decision not to devote its "limited resources" to the matter at an earlier stage, believing the court would grant the EPA's motion to dismiss engendered little sympathy. Alt v. United States EPA, No. 13-2200, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 13319 (4th Cir. W. Va. Jul. 14, 2014).