Navy map of Dahlgren Potomac River Test Range Complex. The range has been in use since WWI, without any checks on materials discharged into the river and bay system, groups contend. Image: US Navy
Two environmental groups have filed a lawsuit to stop weapons testing conducted from the Naval Support Facility in Dahlgren, Virginia. The organizations – Potomac Riverkeep Network and the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council – claim the Navy’s activities are contributing to the pollution of the Potomac River in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.
The activity in question takes place regularly along a 51-mile stretch of the river known as the Potomac River Test Range. It has been in use since World War I.
“In total, the Navy has discharged more than 33 million pounds of munitions into the Potomac River,” the two organizations claim in the lawsuit, which is now pending before the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. “The munitions contain toxic metals, solvents, explosives, and other potentially harmful constituents,” a brief outlining the lawsuit stated.
The plaintiffs want the Navy to obtain from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a permit under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program. Such a permit would place limits upon what the Navy can discharge into the river, and require regular reporting and monitoring of related activities.
In the meantime, the two groups want the court to impose an injunction that would require the Navy to get a discharge permit from the Maryland Department of the Environment.
“If the Navy were ordered to secure a Clean Water Act permit for its Potomac River testing activities, that would protect the recreational, aesthetic, and commercial interests [of those filing the lawsuit], because a permit would impose restrictions on the Navy’s discharges to ensure compliance with water quality standards in the river,” the organizations claimed in the court brief.
The suit also complained of the Navy’s continual restriction of recreational and commercial access to the river, typically taking place on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. The two organizations also cited numerous complaints from private citizens who say they are enduring hardship because of the tests. Additionally, they produced as evidence numerous photographs of expended ordnance found along the Potomac shoreline and in the waters as well. They also mentioned the Navy’s recent testing of more powerful – and thus, they say, more harmful – ordnance.
Besides asking the court to declare the Navy in violation of the Clean Water Act and get the Maryland permit, the organization also is seeking compensation for litigation costs and attorney fees. The Navy has yet to respond to the complaint.
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