BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought by environmental groups claiming the agency is not doing enough to protect Cape Cod's coastal waters.
The EPA said in its motion to dismiss filed Monday that the plaintiffs' grievance is with the state and local agencies that oversee water-quality issues.
The Conservation Law Foundation and Buzzards Bay Coalition sued the EPA in federal court two years ago, alleging the agency failed to slow nitrogen pollution.
The Cape Cod Times reports that the EPA argues that it is responsible for the regulation of pollution from point sources such as pipes, but not for pollution from non-point sources such as "runoff from fields and forests."
Buzzards Bay Coalition president Mark Rasmussen said the EPA's position is "shameful."