Last Friday, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals had a hearing on our Clean Water Act lawsuit against Dynegy. Our case reached the appeals court over a year ago when the district court in Urbana ruled that the Clean Water Act does not apply to the coal ash seeps along the Middle Fork from the Vermilion Power Station. We appealed that decision.
At the hearing, our attorney Thom Cmar with Earthjustice argued that the Supreme Court’s Maui decision requires that our case go back to the district court, where we would argue our case that the Clean Water Act applies to Dynegy’s pollution of the Middle Fork. Our opponents argued that the case should be dismissed entirely.
We do not yet have (and were not expecting) a decision from the hearing’s panel of three judges, who will take time to deliberate on their decision. Check back with us for updates. You can listen to the entire hearing here, which is roughly 40 minutes long. Thank you to our partners at Earthjustice for working so hard with us to protect the Middle Fork.
Andrew provides technical expertise in support of Prairie River’s coal pollution programs.
