Water Quality Standards for the State of Missouri's Lakes and Reservoirs

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) proposes to establish federal nutrient criteria to protect designated uses for the State of Missouri's lakes and reservoirs. On August 16, 2011, EPA disapproved most of the numeric criteria for total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chlorophyll a that the State submitted to EPA in 2009. EPA acknowledged the importance of Missouri's proactive efforts to address nutrient pollution by adopting numeric nutrient criteria. However, EPA concluded that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) had failed to demonstrate the criteria would protect the State's designated uses and were not based on a sound scientific rationale. The Clean Water Act (CWA) directs EPA to promptly propose water quality standards (WQS) that meet CWA requirements if a state does not adopt WQS addressing EPA's disapproval. On February 24, 2016, the Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) filed a lawsuit alleging that EPA failed to satisfy its statutory obligation to act "promptly." On December 1, 2016, EPA entered into a consent decree with MCE committing to sign a notice of proposed rulemaking by December 15, 2017 to address EPA's 2011 disapproval, un