Environmental groups have filed a federal lawsuit, accusing the of violating the Clean Water Act.
The lawsuit involves a dispute over whether Lake Erie should be classified as an .
In the suit, groups including the and the claim the EPA is violating federal law because it has not yet acted on Ohio鈥檚 list of impaired waters.
An impaired designation would put the lake on a 鈥減ollution diet鈥�. Currently, several streams and tributaries in Ohio鈥檚 Western Lake Erie watershed are impaired. But that鈥檚 not enough for Molly Flanagan of the
"What we would like to see happen is for US EPA to deny Ohio鈥檚 impaired waters list because the state of Ohio did not list the open waters of Western Lake Erie as impaired," she said.
Flanagan says that by addressing the issue directly, the state will have additional tools and funding to make sure pollution is reduced. Western Lake Erie is plagued by pollution, primarily from agricultural runoff.
Michigan, which listed its part of Lake Erie as impaired, sent in its list in November. It was approved in February.
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