Clean Water Act

 

As EPA Crafts CWA 404 Rule, State Group Helps States Gain Permit Power. According to Inside EPA, “With EPA poised to propose as early as this spring a rule to clarify how states may assume dredge-and-fill permitting authority, the Association of State Wetlands Managers (ASWM) is developing guidance and other tools aimed at assisting states in obtaining the wetlands permitting authority. Currently, only Michigan and New Jersey have assumed Clean Water Act (CWA) section 404 permitting authority, although five other states -- Florida, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon and Indiana -- ‘are actively engaged in the beginning steps of assumption,’ and several other states are interested, Brenda Zollitsch, ASWM senior policy analyst, said during a Feb. 18 webinar hosted by the group. Arizona announced in December that it is dropping plans to assume 404 permitting, based on stakeholder objections. Julia Anastasio, executive director and general counsel of the Association of Clean Water Administrators, had said in 2019 that the Trump administration’s narrowed definition of CWA jurisdiction could leave the state with few waters over which it could assume CWA permitting. Under section 404(g), a state or tribe may request to ‘administer its own individual and general permit program’ in place of the federal dredge-and-fill permit program administered by the Army Corps of Engineers and overseen by EPA.” [Inside EPA, 2/25/20 (=)]

 

WOTUS & NWPR

 

Senators Fret About Water, Air Regs During Injunctions Probe. According to E&E News, “Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle yesterday questioned the use of broad court orders but offered few solutions for how to address their concerns about judicial overreach. Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said ‘somebody needs to fix’ the proliferation of nationwide injunctions by lower court judges that have the power to stop federal environmental regulations and other rules from taking effect across the country. He noted that courts issued about 20 injunctions against President Obama’s policies during his eight years in office, but so far have more than doubled that number of orders during the three-plus years of the Trump administration. … Courts have used injunctions to halt rules by many administrations — both Republican and Democrat. For example, district courts have stopped implementation of the Obama-era Waters of the U.S., or WOTUS, definition and the Trump administration’s attempt to suspend the rule. ‘EPA has now issued a new rule, and that, too, will be challenged, and yet another nationwide injunction will be coming down the pike,’ University of Michigan Law School professor Nicholas Bagley told the Senate committee yesterday. ‘If so, individual judges will have effectively prevented two administrations from bringing much-needed clarity to the rules governing the Clean Water Act,’ Bagley said. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) defended the use of the court orders in the example of an EPA rule governing air pollution in a downwind state. If a federal district court determines that the agency regulation is arbitrary and capricious, he said, the onus should not fall on downwind challengers to launch multiple new legal battles over the rule’s application. ‘Why do I have to bear that burden of fighting through defining what the upwind quality is when I’m the one who has been hurt by a phony regulation?’ Whitehouse asked.” [E&E News, 2/26/20 (=)]

 

McCarthy, GOP Colleagues Denounce Lawsuit Against Federal Regs To Upgrade Calif. Water Policy. According to The Ripon Advance, “A lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra with support from California Gov. Gavin Newsom against federal regulations to upgrade the state’s water policy isn’t sitting well with U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and his home-state Republican colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives. ‘This baseless lawsuit demonstrates the governor and attorney general are playing a dangerous game of politics with California water policy,’ Rep. McCarthy said in a statement released on Feb. 21 with GOP members including U.S. Reps. Ken Calvert (R-CA) and Paul Cook (R-CA). ‘We pray this lawsuit does not ignite decades of litigation and a new water war, which will undoubtedly hurt the Californians we all represent,’ said Rep. McCarthy and his colleagues. On Feb. 20, Becerra, the California Natural Resources Agency, and the California Environmental Protection Agency filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the Trump administration for failing to protect endangered fish species from federal water export operations. Biological opinions prepared by federal agencies under the Endangered Species Act to direct water project operations lack safeguards for protected species and their habitat in the Sacramento and San Joaquin River watersheds, according to the lawsuit, which requests that the court declare the Trump administration’s adoption of the biological opinions unlawful.” [The Ripon Advance, 2/25/20 (=)]

 

Marin Group Joins Fight Over Clean Water Act Changes. According to Marin Independent Journal, “A Marin County conservation group has put the Trump administration on notice for a potential lawsuit over a rule change that environmental groups say would destroy vital waterways and harm more than a hundred endangered and threatened species. Joining 12 other conservation groups from throughout the country, the Olema-based Turtle Island Restoration Network alleges the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not attempt to weigh the potential impacts to endangered species when it removed millions of acres of waterways and habitat from Clean Water Act protections in January. ‘Clean water is the single most important resource for countless species, including humans,’ said Annalisa Batanides Tuel, Turtle Island Restoration Network advocacy and policy manager. ‘Right now we’re facing the reality of climate change and widespread habitat loss. It is critical to expand Clean Water Act protections — not shrink them — if we want to avoid mass extinction.’ The coalition of conservation groups are calling on the EPA to comply with the Endangered Species Act by assessing the potential impacts that would be caused by the rule change. With its notice of intent, the groups gave the federal agency 60 days to correct the alleged violations or face a lawsuit.” [Marin Independent Journal, 2/25/20 (=)]

 

Western Water

 

Trump Promised 'Massive' Water Deliveries, But Dry Weather Says Otherwise. According to Politico, “The federal Bureau of Reclamation today announced Central Valley farmers should plan for relatively low water deliveries this year, despite new endangered species rules from President Donald Trump intended to provide ‘a massive amount of water’ for agriculture. Reclamation said that agricultural customers south of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta would receive just 15 percent of their maximum contract. That includes the largest customer of the Central Valley Project, Westlands Water District, which along with other agricultural contractors has been pushing for the new rules. Trump, appearing last week in Bakersfield, said farmers and ranchers could expect ‘a magnificent amount’ of water from the new ‘biological opinions,’ which incorporate more flexible pumping rules that would increase exports from the Delta. But more pumping can occur only when snow and rain make more water available. Federal officials said conditions were too dry to promise more. A wet end of 2019 has given way to a record-dry 2020, with Northern Sierra precipitation at half of the seasonal average. ‘We are still constrained by the amount of water nature provides us,’ said Reclamation’s regional director, Ernest Conant.” [Politico, 2/25/20 (=)]

 

Utilities And Enviros Paddle Together On Lower Snake River. According to E&E News, “Environmentalists and Pacific Northwest power producers are urging elected officials to seek ‘collaborative solutions’ for the myriad complicated issues roiling the Lower Snake River. In a letter to the governors of Washington state, Oregon, Montana and Idaho, 17 leaders of energy companies, utilities and conservation organizations called for a ‘new dialogue with all sovereigns and constituents’ with a stake in the river and its bounty. ‘We agree on what we’re trying to accomplish,’ Nancy Hirsh, executive director of the NW Energy Coalition, said in a statement. ‘We just need to figure out how best to get there, and that’s an inherently collaborative process.’ The group’s ambitious array of goals include recovering ‘abundant and harvestable’ salmon and steelhead populations; honoring cultural values and federal treaties; enhancing regional economies; and ensuring electric system ‘reliability, affordability and decarbonization.’ The letter sent yesterday was timed to coincide with the expected release of the Columbia River System Operations draft environmental impact statement. The Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration are on track to issue the EIS by the end of February, examining the impacts of the 14 federal dam and reservoir projects that comprise the federal Columbia River system. ‘We are more powerful together despite our differences,’ said Debra Smith, general manager and CEO of Seattle City Light, adding that ‘it is our responsibility to join forces, to learn from each other and to work through the issues to resolution.’” [E&E News, 2/25/20 (=)]

 

Toxic Algae

 

New ALS Research Implicates Blue-Green Algae Toxin, Offers Hope That Amino Acid Can Help. According to The Gainesville Sun, “A study published Friday connects a toxin produced by some blue-green algae to Lou Gehrig’s disease – while also showing that an amino acid may protect against its ravages. When vervet monkeys were dosed with BMAA, a neurotoxin produced by cyanobacteria, changes in their bodies mirrored what happens to people in the early stages of Lou Gehrig’s, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Related: Everything you need to know to protect yourself and your pets from toxic algae blooms Monkeys given BMAA along with the amino acid did much better, said the paper’s lead author David Davis, of the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine who served as first author on the paper. ‘In animals dosed with L-serine, the progression of these ALS-like changes was considerably reduced.’ Researchers have found BMAA as well as other toxins in the cyanobacteria blooms that periodically slime south Florida. The study, published in the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology, follows an earlier one published by Davis and others in 2016 that showed BMAA can also cause brain changes that resemble Alzheimer’s. This research offers broader implications for human health, wrote Dr. Larry Brand, a university of Miami professor of marine biology who has researched BMAA, though he wasn’t affiliated with this study. ‘These vervets were exposed to the same cyanobacterial toxin that was found in the brains of beached dolphins with Alzheimer’s neuropathology,’ Brand wrote in an email. ‘This is one more indication that we need to carefully monitor the health effects of exposure to cyanobacterial blooms.’” [The Gainesville Sun, 2/25/20 (+)]

 

EPA Grants Seek Market-Based Strategies To Cut Pollution. According to E&E News, “Federal grants totaling more than $1.8 million are being awarded to five organizations for projects that will use market-based approaches to reducing nutrient pollution that helps cause harmful algae blooms in the Great Lakes, officials said yesterday. The funding will come through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a program that deals with some of the region’s most persistent ecological threats, EPA said. ‘Addressing emerging challenges, like excess nutrients in our waters, requires creative solutions,’ Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement. ‘This EPA funding will help build on existing state, local and tribal efforts and support innovative tools and technologies that will deliver critical water quality improvements at a lower cost.’ Scientists say excessive runoff of nutrients, primarily phosphorus, feeds algae blooms that degrade water quality and in some cases produce toxins. Gigantic masses form each summer on Lake Erie’s western basin. They also have shown up in Lake Huron’s Saginaw Bay. Michigan, Ohio and the Canadian province of Ontario have pledged to seek a 40% reduction of phosphorus runoff into western Lake Erie by 2025. The primary sources are fertilizers and manure from farms and sewage treatment plants. Septic tanks and runoff from urban streets and yards also contribute.” [E&E News, 2/25/20 (=)]

 

Drinking Water

 

Large Drinking Water Utilities Urge Resiliency Funding In House Climate Bill. According to Inside EPA, “Large municipal drinking water utilities are questioning House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders on why they excluded from their draft climate legislation reauthorization for an EPA program intended to help small community water systems prepare for the impacts of climate change and extreme weather when other drinking water programs were included. The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) tells Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) in a Feb. 18 letter that the water utility group believes that language to reauthorize and expand the Drinking Water System Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Program ‘would be a logical addition to any comprehensive climate legislation that is developed by the Energy and Commerce Committee,’ especially if expanded beyond its current focus on small systems. Congress authorized the Drinking Water System Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Program through fiscal year 2021 as part of the 2018 water resources development act, known as the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA). The program provides dedicated water system assistance to help small and disadvantaged communities respond to natural hazards that may be related to climate change. ‘For this reason, we were disappointed to find no mention of the program in the CLEAN Future Act, even as the legislation proposed to extend or create several other drinking water programs that, while important, have little or no direct relation to climate change or extreme weather response,’ AMWA Chief Executive Officer Diane VanDe Hei writes.” [Inside EPA, 2/25/20 (=)]

 

Misc. Waterways

 

Greens Slam EPA Monthlong Celebration As 'Baseless Farce'. According to E&E News, “EPA this month highlighted progress made in safeguarding water supplies over the past 50 years. But several environmentalists decry the effort as hypocritical and point to Trump administration efforts to aggressively cut federal water regulations and funding for U.S. waterways. ‘As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 50th anniversary commemoration, the agency is kicking off a month-long look at progress in protecting America’s waters,’ the agency said Feb. 3. ‘It is important to take a moment to reflect on the progress we have made in protecting our nation’s waters to help support our health, our environment and our economy,’ EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Dave Ross said in the same release. ‘Before EPA was established in 1970, more than 40 percent of our nation’s drinking water systems failed to meet even the most basic health standards,’ he said in another release. ‘Today, 92 percent of the population is served by community water systems that meet all health-based standards. EPA is proud of the significant progress made in providing access to safe drinking water for all Americans.’ Mary Grant, director of the public water campaign at Food & Water Watch, said, ‘We see the Trump administration’s celebration of their ‘water protection progress’ as a baseless farce that actually highlights his administration’s undermining of the EPA and failures when it comes to ensuring clean, safe and affordable water for all people.’” [E&E News, 2/25/20 (=)]

 

 

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