On March 19, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Association of Washington Business (AWB) and other industry trade groups against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The lawsuit challenged human health criteria that EPA promulgated for Washington waters to address pollution that has resulted in fish consumption advisories across the state. AWB argued that these federal water quality standards were too stringent because they correctly recognized that Washingtonians eat more fish than citizens in many other states (i.e., fish consumption rate of 175 g/day) and required that PCBs pose no greater risk of cancer to the population of Washington than any other toxic pollutant (i.e., cancer risk level of one in one million). The District Court dismissed the case as moot after the State of Washington adopted the federal human health criteria into state law and EPA approved the criteria under the Clean Water Act. Five Tribes and the State of Washington intervened in the lawsuit to defend the protective federal human health criteria and moved to dismiss the case as moot once they were adopted into state law.
Kanji & Katzen, P.L.L.C. represents the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, and Puyallup Tribe of Indians in Association of Washington Business v. EPA, No. 23-cv-03605 (DLF).
A copy of the decision can be found here.