Regional Administrator
In June of 2016, the EPA settled a court case with Yuengling to the tune of $3M for violations to under the Clean Water Act. “Yuengling is responsible for serious violations of its Clean Water Act pretreatment discharge limits, posing a potential risk to the Schuylkill River which provides drinking water to 1.5 million people,” EPA Regional Administrator Shawn Garvin said in a news release. “This history of violations and failure to fully respond to orders from the Greater Pottsville Area Sewer Authority and EPA to correct the problems resulted in this enforcement action.” What is especially important to note is that “The EPA said Yuengling violated Clean Water Act requirements at least 141 times between 2008 and 2015.” In other words, violations continued for 9 years before the company was penalized. This is one example of an ongoing debate regarding the effectiveness of our environmental regulations if the process cannot move quicker to stop the continued damage to the environment.An article outlining the case specifics as well as a supporting article titled “Clean water advocate says cases, like Yuengling’s, take too long” . After reading the specifics on this case, research similar cases and/or argumentative opinion papers regarding the issue of slow turnaround on prosecution under Clean Water Act violations. Post your thoughts and arguments regarding this issue; for example, what are the leading causes for the delay? Do you believe the delay hinders the effectiveness of the regulations? What steps could be done to speed up the process?
