Twelve environmental groups Tuesday joined to sue the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and EPA Administrator Michael Regan over pollution guidelines set forth earlier this year. The groups alleged that the EPA’s Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 (Plan 15), issued in January 2023, failed to tighten limits on the release of toxins in wastewater from industrial facilities, including oil refineries and plastic manufacturing plants.

The petition was submitted to the US Court of Appeals for the Twelfth Circuit and states that the EPA violated the Clean Water Act by failing “to revise the effluent limitations, effluent limitation guidelines, standards of performance for new sources, and pretreatment standards” in Plan 15. Federal law requires the EPA to revise and tighten these limits every five years if updated technology is available. The petition alleges that the EPA’s decision to forego revision was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act.

Ultimately, the environmental groups requested that the court review Plan 15 and order the EPA to make the necessary modifications to control pollution.

Before Plan 15 was made final, it was subject to a public notice-and-comment period. During that time, Food & Water Watch, Clean Water Action and Environment America, all of whom are parties in Tuesday’s petition, submitted comments expressing concerns over increased PFAS discharges, unaddressed CAFO pollution and resulting algal outbreaks and dead zones.