A coalition of environmental groups sued the EPA on Thursday for failing to issue hazardous substance spill rules despite a statutory mandate.
The historical failure to issue the rules—which the litigants claim stretches back to the inception of the Clean Water Act in 1972—becomes a flashpoint every time an accident happens and chemicals spill into local water supplies.
But the Trump administration has taken an aggressive deregulatory stance, and even Democratic regimes haven’t moved to regulate.
According to the plaintiffs, the Clean Water Act doesn’t give the Environmental Protection Agency the option of not regulating.
Even if it did have …