In an article just published by the University of Houston Law Review, Victor B. Flatt, Taft Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law, proposes modifications to the current regulatory trading system for water pollution. While acknowledging that the Clean Water Act and its subsequent amendments have made great strides toward reducing point source pollution — that is, pollution coming from a single point — Flatt maintains that more must be done to combat pollution from multiple sources, or non-point sources, such as lawns, impervious surfaces and farms.
In the article Flatt argues that Congress may be slow to address these issues, but the Environmental Protection Agency is attempting to develop flexible mechanisms to address the nutrient pollution from runoff in lakes, rivers, bays and oceans. One mechanism, trading between sources – where pollution point sources pay non-point sources to stop nutrients from getting into waterways – should be economically desirable, he says.
“The regulatory framework to encourage this type of trading does not currently exist because third party aggregators are necessary to act as ‘market makers,” Flatt says. Flatt’s article explains how the EPA and states can embrace this new market structure to improve the health of the nation’s waters with simplicity, efficiency and integrity.
Source: “C(r)ap and Trade: The Brave New World of Non-point Source Nutrient Trading and Using Lessons from Greenhouse Gas Markets to Make It Work,” www.houstonlawreview.org, Volume 52, Issue 1.
Editor’s Note: Professor Victor Flatt is available for interviews regarding the need to adjust the current approach to combating run-off as water pollution.
-October 31, 2014