Advocates Celebrate a Legal Win Against US Navy’s Staggering Pollution in the Potomac River. A Lack of Effective Regulation Could Dampen the Spirit

Petitioners want strong regulatory safeguards built into the pollution discharge permit, which the Navy has agreed to obtain after more than a century of unchecked weapons testing in the Potomac River, in violation of the Clean Water Act.

Dean Naujoks was relieved when, earlier this month, the U.S. Naval Support Facility in Dahlgren, Virginia, agreed to get a pollution discharge permit for its weapons testing on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. The Navy has been testing weapons there since World War I.