BALTIMORE (CN) — Conservation groups sued the U.S. Navy Wednesday, claiming that unregulated weapons testing is polluting the Potomac River in violation of the Clean Water Act.
Potomac Riverkeeper Network and the Natural Resource Defense Council filed the lawsuit in a federal court in Maryland. Potomac Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks said in a press release that the groups aren't seeking to end weapons testing in the region but would like it regulated.
"We're not asking the court to shut down weapons testing," Naujoks said. "We just want the Navy to get a permit under the Clean Water Act to ensure that their activities protect water quality, like everyone else has to do."
The groups claim the Navy's activity out of Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, the nation's most extensive over-the-water gun-firing range, has polluted the river with bullets, explosives and munitions. The lawsuit comes after the Navy recently announced that it plans to expand the Potomac River Test Range to allow it to conduct weapons testing activities in more of the river.
"We were shocked to discover the federal government is openly polluting this waterway without any kind of permit," Naujoks said. "And it is staggering to consider the volume of munitions that have already gone into the river."
The lawsuit seeks a court declaration that the Navy is violating the Clean Water Act and an order requiring the Navy to apply for a permit through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems program from the Maryland Department of the Environment. These permits limit the types and amounts of pollutants discharged and impose monitoring and reporting obligations on the discharge.
The military purchased the long, straight stretch of the Potomac River in 1918 for testing World War I weapons too heavy to move around existing test sites or too powerful to fire. The Navy conducts outdoor and indoor weapons research, development, testing and evaluation in the designated test range, a 51-nautical mile reach of the river, divided into regions labeled the Upper, Middle, and Lower Danger Zones.
Without a permit, the Navy is not required to monitor water quality, report the results and disclose noncompliance with permit conditions. The Potomac Riverkeeper Network claims requiring the water quality information to be published would help its advocacy efforts, which include publishing reports about health risks and environmental harms from Potomac River pollution.
The Navy conducted a 2013 analysis that found they discharged approximately 33 million pounds of constituents into the river from 1918 to 2007. The discharge included toxic heavy metal manganese and over 500 combined pounds of explosive RDX, a chemical commonly used for C-4 explosives and explosive ammonium picrate. The lawsuit claims the Navy's presence in the Potomac has increased since the 2013 study.
According to the complaint, river goers have found weapon shells and other physical evidence of the Navy's testing activities on the river bottom.
"It's cause for concern for anyone who uses the river for boating or fishing—for business or recreation," Naujoks said.
The conservation groups claim the Navy previously agreed to voluntarily initiate a consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service over potential harm to the habitat for the endangered Atlantic sturgeon, which spawns and migrates in the Potomac.
Conservation groups first sued the Navy for failing to adhere to the Clean Water Act over 40 years ago. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with a federal court's 1979 holding that the act required the Navy to obtain an NPDES permit for weapons testing in Puerto Rico and the island of Vieques.
The Potomac is becoming healthier after decades of decline, primarily from the District of Columbia metro area urban runoff, according to The Potomac Conservancy. The river supplies over 90% of the District of Columbia's water.
The court assigned the case to U.S. Magistrate Judge Ajmel Ahsen Quereshi.
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