Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized a long overdue rule that was designed, according to EPA’s description, to move the agency “into the 21st Century.” Since many of the rules’ provisions still will not be in effect more than two decades after the turn of the century, this rulemaking plays right into the hands of those who insist that the federal government cannot work efficiently — ironic, because efficiency is the very purpose of the eReporting rule. In this case, the absurdly slow pace of the rulemaking process and the final rule’s protracted implementation schedule also serves the critics’ agenda. Even after more than a decade in the making, the final rule hampers EPA’s ability to shine a light on the problem of underreporting of water pollution in the United States.

The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) has long been the centerpiece of EPA efforts to implement the Clean Water Act. The success of the NPDES regime is largely attributable to the requirement that large “point sources” of pollution monitor their effluent discharge and provide publicly available reports on this pollution and any violations of their permits. This simple and transparent regulatory system provides a strong …