Clean Water Act

 

Judge Vacates Keystone XL’s CWA Permit, Opening Door To More Suits. According to Inside EPA, “A federal district court judge in Montana has remanded and vacated a Clean Water Act (CWA) dredge-and-fill general permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, opening the door to plaintiffs in other states bringing similar challenges in other states to pipelines and ‘utility line activities’ covered by the permit. In an April 15 ruling in Northern Plains Resource Council, et al. v. Army Corps of Engineers, Judge Brian Morris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana found that the Army Corps of Engineers was required to conduct Endangered Species Act (ESA) consultations with federal wildlife agencies when it last revised nationwide permit 12 (NWP 12), the general permit governing dredge-and-fill activities for pipeline and other utility line construction projects. ‘The Corps should have initiated ESA Section 7(a)(2) consultation before it reissued NWP 12 in 2017. The Corps’ failure to do so violated the ESA,’ Morris concludes. Morris’ finding of failure entitles the plaintiffs to summary judgment regarding their ESA claim, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana will remand NWP 12 to the Corps for compliance with the ESA as well as vacating the general permit pending completion of the consultation process, the ruling says. Furthermore, Morris says he is enjoining the Corps from authorizing any dredge or fill activities under NWP 12 in Montana. While the ruling barring the Corps from granting coverage under NWP 12 for pipeline and other utility line activities is limited to Montana, plaintiffs challenging pipeline construction and other activities governed by the permit in other locations could urge other federal judges to consider Morris’ rationale.” [Inside EPA, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Keystone XL Ruling Has ‘Sweeping’ Impacts For Other Projects. According to Politico, “A federal court’s decision striking down a critical Keystone XL permit has broad implications beyond the embattled oil pipeline. The Wednesday ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana tossed a nationwide permit the Army Corps of Engineers uses to approve water crossings for projects all over the country, concluding the agency hadn’t properly considered impacts on endangered species. ‘This is a sweeping ruling,’ said Larry Liebesman, a former Justice Department environmental lawyer now at the water resources consulting firm Dawson & Associates. ‘This judge used his authority to enjoin it nationwide.’ That means the Army Corps, for now, won’t be able to greenlight other projects under the streamlined permitting process it typically uses for pipelines, Liebesman said. A spokesman said the agency is still reviewing the on-the-ground impacts of the ruling. Pipeline developers say they’re watching the case closely to assess impacts on their own projects. … In a Thursday research note, ClearView Energy Partners analyst Christine Tezak said the ruling could delay the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley natural gas pipelines on the East Coast because developers planned to rely on the NWP 12 program, though they don’t have any authorizations in place.” [Politico, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Judge Weighs Killing Trump's Keystone XL Permit. According to The Washington Post, “One day after axing a key water permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, a federal judge took to the bench to consider arguments on whether he should follow suit for President Trump’s authorization of the project’s international border crossing. Chief Judge Brian Morris for the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana closely questioned attorneys in a marathon hearing yesterday about Trump’s authority to issue a 2019 permit allowing the 1.2-mile northern border-crossing segment of the oil pipeline. Developer TC Energy began work on the segment earlier this month, a move that drew fierce pushback from tribal leaders and some residents concerned about construction crews spreading the coronavirus. Morris, an Obama appointee, heard combined arguments for a pair of cases from tribes and environmental groups alleging the president had violated the Constitution by infringing on Congress’ authority to regulate international commerce. The groups also warned that the international permit effectively authorized the entire length of the pipeline, endangering tribal lands. … Yesterday’s hearing came after Morris ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers’ use of Nationwide Permit 12 for approving the pipeline’s hundreds of water crossings violated the Endangered Species Act, and sent the permit back to the agency for review (Energywire, April 16).” [The Washington Post, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Water Pollution

 

Lead

 

Michigan's Ex-Gov. Rick Snyder Knew About Flint's Toxic Water—And Lied About It. According to Vice, “During the inauguration of his successor, outgoing Michigan Governor Rick Snyder needed a favor. At the January 2019 event, Snyder approached Karen Weaver, who was then the mayor of Flint, a city of nearly 100,000 people that was still reeling from financial decay and a toxic-water crisis. He asked whether she could meet with Congressman Elijah Cummings. ‘You have a lot of influence with him,’ Weaver remembered a worried Snyder saying to her about Cummings. At the time, Cummings was the incoming chairman of the powerful U.S. House Oversight Committee. Throughout the water crisis, Cummings led the charge as Congress demanded Snyder and his administration provide more information about what he knew about the poisonous water that ravaged the impoverished majority-minority Rust Belt city after it switched water sources to the corrosive Flint River in 2014, and when he knew it. More specifically, Cummings pushed for more information on when Snyder first learned of the lethal Legionella pneumophila bacterial outbreak in Flint. Snyder testified to Congress that he first became aware of Legionella in January 2016 and held a press conference the next day. Flint residents didn’t believe the governor; their doubt intensified after Harvey Hollins, the director of the state’s Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives office, contradicted the governor, testifying to Congress that he informed Snyder about Flint’s Legionella outbreak in December 2015. Back at the inauguration, Weaver said, Snyder asked her to get Cummings to ‘back off’ from investigating him, emphasizing that he wanted to move on with his life as a private citizen. He said ‘it would go a long way’ if the request to the congressman came from her, Weaver recalled to VICE. Weaver’s former spokesperson, Candice Mushatt, as well as two other sources, confirmed that she had described the governor’s request to them after it occurred. (Snyder did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story).” [Vice, 4/16/20 (+)]

 

Coal Ash

 

Judge Backs Epa Ash Permit Reviews But Partially Vacates State Program. According to Inside EPA, “A federal district judge has upheld EPA’s process for reviewing states’ coal ash permitting programs and rejected environmentalists’ claims that the policy violates the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA), but has also partially vacated the first state permitting rule that the agency approved under the process. While the April 15 decision in Waterkeeper Alliance, et al., v. Wheeler, et al., generally backs EPA’s review process, it also finds that Oklahoma’s permitting program violates a 2018 appellate ruling that certain aspects of the current RCRA ash-disposal standards are not stringent enough and remanding that portion of the program to EPA so it can address that deficiency. ‘The Court agrees with Waterkeeper that Oklahoma’s permitting plan, as approved, contravenes the D.C. Circuit’s holding in [Utility Solid Waste Activities Group (USWAG), et al., v. EPA, et al.], but also concludes that vacating the final approval of the Oklahoma coal residuals program outright is not necessary. . . . To that end, the Court concludes that, in line with the D.C. Circuit’s decision in USWAG, EPA’s authorization will be partially vacated and remanded,’ reads the ruling by Judge John D. Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.” [Inside EPA, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Judge Rules Against EPA Allowing Okla. Unlined Dumps. According to E&E News, “A federal judge yesterday partially scrapped EPA’s 2018 approval of Oklahoma’s coal ash disposal program because the state continued to operate unlined impoundments. After years of rulemaking and congressional wrangling, EPA is moving forward with reviewing state coal ash storage plans. Oklahoma was the first to get the agency’s blessing. But Waterkeeper Alliance, the Sierra Club and the LEAD Agency Inc., an Oklahoma organization, sued EPA following the program’s approval. The suit alleged EPA ‘unlawfully approved a state coal ash program that allows unsafe impoundments full of toxic coal ash to continue operating, deprives the public of their right to review and comment on critical compliance documents and grants coal ash dumps permits that never expire’ (Greenwire, Sep. 28, 2018). Just the first of those claims had merit, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge John Bates wrote in the ruling. Coal-fired power plants produce large amounts of waste called coal ash. It can contain arsenic, lead and other toxic metals. Those toxics can leech out of landfills and unlined storage impoundments. Oklahoma’s program permitted the continued use of unlined coal ash impoundments. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had previously struck down part of EPA regulations published in 2015 permitting that practice due to concerns about groundwater contamination and health effects. Bates sent that portion of Oklahoma’s program back to EPA for review while leaving the rest in place.” [E&E News, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Environmentalists Detail Legal Attacks On EPA’s Coal Ash Permit Plan. According to Inside EPA, “Environmentalists are detailing legal attacks on EPA’s proposed nationwide Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) permit program for coal ash disposal, faulting the agency’s plan for ‘lifetime’ permits that never expire, its use of general permits, and limited public outreach on proposed limits. During an April 15 online public hearing for the proposed permit rule, speakers from environmental and community groups outlined what they said are a host of legal flaws, setting the stage for all-but-certain litigation if the program takes effect. ‘It simply cannot ensure there will be no reasonable probability of adverse effects to health or the environment,’ said Lisa Hallowell, a senior Environmental Integrity Project attorney, referring to RCRA’s core requirement for waste storage and disposal. EPA’s Dec. 19 proposal would set up a permitting regime to replace the self-implementing enforcement system that currently governs the RCRA standards for coal ash disposal in states that lack EPA-approved permit rules. Currently only Oklahoma and Georgia have approved programs, meaning the federal rule would apply across most of the country. However, it would only apply at first to facilities that have been categorized as ‘high hazard’ based on their potential risks from a structural failure, with other disposal sites still subject to enforcement only through citizen suits until EPA chooses to expand the program.” [Inside EPA, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Coal Ash Spill Just A Bad Memory In North Carolina 6 Years Later. According to The Flint Journal, “Six years ago, a stormwater pipe failed and tens of thousands of tons of coal ash spilled into North Carolina’s Dan River at a Duke Energy power plant steam station near a town called Eden. The environmental disaster paints a stark portrait of what happens to a watershed and the people who live there when coal ash escapes the ponds and dumps where it’s stored. … Now, six years later, the river looks like it did before the spill, but ‘We know that all that coal ash is still moving its way along the bottom of the river,’ said Adams of Appalachian Voices. ‘Once it escapes into the environment…once it’s in there, it’s damned near impossible to get up,’ she said. ‘So a spill prevention plan or a clean-up plan is moot if you can’t enact it.’ ‘Duke Energy was only able to recapture a fraction of the ash, the 39,000 tons,’ added her colleague Xavier Boatright, environmental justice organizer and researcher with Clean Water for North Carolina. ‘Scientists are still finding ongoing concerns that linger after these events.’ Boatright said it changes the way people think about their communities. ‘In many ways, folks have gained a new sense of awareness about environmental justice and environmental conservation, especially when it comes to coal ash and water and air protections,’ he said. There’s the social stress, too, of feeling as though one must ‘pick a side.’ ‘They’ve been, in a way, torn apart by coal ash,’ he said.” [The Flint Journal, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Toxic Algae

 

Algae Seen On North, South Sides Of Lake Pontchartrain, A Week After Spillway Opens. According to The Times-Picayune, “Several blooms of greenish algae have been spotted along both the north and south shores of Lake Pontchartrain, just a week after the Bonnet Carre Spillway was opened by the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the threat to the New Orleans area from high water in the river. Geologist Chris McLindon took photographs of algae-tainted water hugging the shoreline in Mandeville on Thursday, and Rachel Strassel, a spokeswoman for the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, said she spotted algae along the southernmost six miles of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway bridge. Corps officials said they have not yet determined that the spillway opening is the cause of the blooms, however. ‘Algal blooms typically occur this time of year as water temperatures increase,’ said Corps spokesman Rene Poche. ‘We need to continue to collect data and samples from across the lake to see how the water from the spillway operation is moving in the lake and compare that to pre-operation conditions.’ Corps workers had opened 70 of the 350 bays in the spillway structure as of Thursday evening, allowing 63,000 cubic feet per second of river water to enter the lake. That water -- representing roughly 5% of the river’s flow -- is high in nutrient content, the result of fertilizer running off farmland in the Midwest and other areas north of Louisiana and into the river.” [The Times-Picayune, 4/10/20 (=)]

 

Wastewater

 

Del. Enviro Regulators Must Turn Over Documents — Judge. According to E&E News, “A judge has rejected an effort by state environmental regulators to dodge subpoenas in a lawsuit involving wastewater violations by a southern Delaware poultry processor. The judge on Tuesday rejected arguments by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control that information being sought could be withheld under Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act as ‘investigatory files.’ DNREC also had argued that the information was subject to attorney-client privilege and was protected because it was part of settlement discussions, and that having to provide it would unduly burden the agency. ‘A statutory obligation cannot be an undue burden,’ said Superior Court Judge Craig Karsnitz. The subpoenas were issued against DNREC and five DNREC employee by lawyers representing Millsboro-area residents in a lawsuit against Mountaire Farms. The information being sought includes documents gathered by DNREC in its investigation of Mountaire’s environmental violations and information from settlement discussions between DNREC and Mountaire in a federal lawsuit filed by DNREC. In rejecting DNREC’s FOIA argument, Karsnitz noted both a 2013 court ruling involving Delaware’s transportation department and DNREC’S obligation under Delaware law to provide the public with information that indicates when a facility has been inspected, what violations were detected and any enforcement action that results from violations. ‘The legislature has mandated that DNREC provide comprehensive information to the public about its work, allegations of violation of environmental law, and enforcement actions,’ Karsnitz wrote.” [E&E News, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Flooding

 

Corps ‘Ignored’ Endangered Species Along Coast When Opening Bonnet Carré, New Lawsuit Says. According to Biloxi Sun Herald, “Two nonprofit environmental groups claim in a federal lawsuit filed against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Mississippi River Commission that the agencies have violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to properly study the damage Bonnet Carré Spillway openings cause. The nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group headquartered in Washington, and Healthy Gulf, based in New Orleans, name treasured Gulf Coast species harmed by the openings, including the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, piping plover shorebirds and Gulf sturgeon, an enormous fish often referred to as a ‘living dinosaur.’ The lawsuit is at least the third filed against the Corps in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi. The Mississippi Secretary of State has filed one of the lawsuits, while a second was filed by Coast localities and two associations. All three lawsuits are pending before U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. Mississippi River water that floods into Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi Sound beyond to avoid flooding the New Orleans area decreases salinity levels, carries a high load of pollutants and sediment, and lowers water temperatures. All these factors potentially harm the endangered species and their habitats, the lawsuit says. The Corps has long operated under the assumption that the Bonnet Carré would open an average of once every 10 years, the lawsuit says. But with increased river flooding, the spillway has opened six times in the last nine years, including an unprecedented 123-day opening in 2019 that resulted in federal fisheries disasters for Gulf states, including Mississippi.” [Biloxi Sun Herald, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

New Orleans Flood Control Harms Endangered Species, Suit Says. According to Bloomberg Environment, “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Mississippi River Commission are violating the Endangered Species Act by failing to consider how a flood-control measure near New Orleans is affecting wildlife and its habitats, conservation groups say in a new lawsuit filed in federal court. The agencies never completed a mandatory ESA consultation for several animal species and their habitats, and they have failed to ensure that the operation of the Bonnet Carre Spillway isn’t jeopardizing listed species or destroying their habitat, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi Wednesday.” [Bloomberg Environment, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Raising Homes — And Controversy — Near Rising Seas. According to E&E News, “The building and construction trades, facing what may be the deepest recession in a century, could tap a new and potentially lucrative market helping communities and homeowners lift houses out of chronically flooded areas. Virginia is testing the water. A Hampton Roads startup company in partnership with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development welcomed its first class this week to the commonwealth’s Home Raising Academy. It’s an eight-week course for homebuilders, contractors and tradesmen to learn the fundamentals of house elevation. Currently a niche activity within the building sector, an expansion of lifting houses and other flood mitigation activities could provide a boost for thousands of contractors facing a steep decline in business from the coming recession, experts say. Resilient Enterprise Solutions hopes to entice hundreds, and possibly thousands, of contractors to learn the engineering and geotechnical skills necessary to lift a home above flood elevation without weakening its structure or destroying its aesthetic appeal. ‘We’re using this opportunity to pilot an alternative to abandoning homes while creating opportunities for contractors who are vested in local economies,’ John Sargent, the company’s CEO, said in a telephone interview. ‘We’re not focusing on companies that come in and do the ‘lift and leave’ kind of stuff. That’s a different business. Our focus is on areas already doing these types of activities but don’t have the workforce to support it.’” [E&E News, 4/17/20 (=)]

 

Climate Change Turns The Tide On Waterfront Living. According to The Washington Post, “George Homewood, Norfolk’s planning director, has chosen the city’s affluent Larchmont neighborhood for our walking tour on this unseasonably warm December day. He pauses in the middle of Richmond Crescent, where repeated tidal flooding has cracked and buckled the asphalt, and wetlands grasses fringe the street. Nodding toward a new house that towers 12 feet above sea level, he poses the hard questions that cities and counties are only beginning to acknowledge as waters along the U.S. coasts continue their inevitable invasion. Will the city be better off if people live in that house for another 30 to 50 years but are unable to get in or out during high tides or lingering storms? How long, he asks, does the city maintain the street? Or keep the storm-water and sewer systems operating? What happens years from now, when emergency services can’t get to these homes because the street has flooded? ‘At some point, the investment in infrastructure can’t be sustained,’ he says. ‘That’s the bottom line.’ Hurricanes get the headlines, but on this street, it will be the repeated jabs of flooding day after day from climate change, with its rising tides and increasingly stronger storms, that will force the city to make tough choices. By 2040, projections by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science show, the river will overflow its banks and flood this street twice daily during high tides. Norfolk plans to protect the city with $1.8 billion in storm-surge barriers and flood walls, but those projects — if built — won’t stop the rising tides in Larchmont. The water will come. This is where Norfolk will eventually begin its retreat.” [The Washington Post, 4/13/20 (=)]

 

Cities Are Flouting Flood Rules. The Cost: $1 Billion. According to The New York Times, “It’s a simple rule, designed to protect both homeowners and taxpayers: If you want publicly subsidized flood insurance, you can’t build a home that’s likely to flood. But local governments around the country, which are responsible for enforcing the rule, have flouted the requirements, accounting for as many as a quarter-million insurance policies in violation, according to data provided to The New York Times by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which runs the flood insurance program. Those structures accounted for more than $1 billion in flood claims during the past decade, the data show. That toll is likely to increase as climate change makes flooding more frequent and intense. Local governments are responsible for enforcing the requirements, but almost none have been penalized for failing to do so. ‘There’s no negative consequences for violating the rules,’ said Rob Moore, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council. Rachel Sears, director of FEMA’s floodplain management division, said her office’s strategy was to avoid ‘immediately pursuing’ penalties, and to instead encourage towns and cities to do better. ‘We work with the communities and property owners to directly remedy the specific violations,’ she said. The National Flood Insurance Program covers homeowners in flood-prone towns and cities, often at rates below what private insurers charge, if they offer it at all. In return, FEMA requires local officials to ensure that the ground floor of every new or repaired building is at least as high as the expected peak of a major flood.” [The New York Times, 4/9/20 (+)]

 

Western Water

 

AP | Study: Warming Makes US West Megadrought Worst In Modern Age. According to The Washington Post, “A two-decade-long dry spell that has parched much of the western United States is turning into one of the deepest megadroughts in the region in more than 1,200 years, a new study found. And about half of this historic drought can be blamed on man-made global warming, according to a study in Thursday’s journal Science. … What’s happening now is ‘a drought bigger than what modern society has seen,’ said study lead author A. Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University. … This week, water managers warned that the Rio Grande is forecast to have water flows less than half of normal, while New Mexico’s largest reservoir is expected to top out at about one-third of its 30-year average. This is ‘what we can expect going forward in a world with continued global warming,’ said Stanford University climate scientist Noah Diffenbaugh, who wasn’t part of the study.” [The Washington Post, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Among The ‘Climate Monsters’ That Afflict California, Megadrought Is The Most Reliable. According to Los Angeles Times, “As is appropriate for the state that is home to Hollywood, the ‘climate monsters’ that bedevil California have names that sound like they came from B-movies — the Blob, Godzilla El Niño, Megadrought. One monster in particular, Drought, has more than overstayed its welcome, according to a new study in the journal Science. So much so, according to the study, that a climate-driven megadrought that is as bad or worse than anything known in prehistory may be developing. Southern Californians, emerging into the sunshine after an unusually wet stretch of spring, are likely to say, ‘What drought?’ Rainfall in downtown Los Angeles, for example, was more than twice what is considered normal in November and December. But then we got ‘bageled,’ as climatologist Bill Patzert puts it. January and February, normally the wettest months, formed a dry hole in the middle of the rainy season. When Los Angeles should have been getting 3.12 and 3.80 inches in January and February, it got 0.32 and 0.04 of an inch, respectively. From October through March, 40 atmospheric rivers made landfall on the West Coast, according to the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Of those, seven were considered strong, and only one of those strong storms made landfall in Northern California — on Nov. 26. The rest hit Washington and Oregon, and no strong atmospheric rivers affected Central or Southern California. During the previous year, 41 atmospheric rivers made landfall on the West Coast, but they were more spread out. More, stronger atmospheric rivers making landfall in California resulted in more precipitation in 2018-19.” [Los Angeles Times, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Southwest Drought Rivals Those Of Centuries Ago, Thanks To Climate Change. According to The New York Times, “A severe drought that has gripped the American Southwest since 2000 is as bad as or worse than long-lasting droughts in the region over the past 1,200 years, and climate change has helped make it that way, scientists said Thursday. The researchers described the current drought, which has helped intensify wildfire seasons and threatened water supplies for people and agriculture, as an ‘emerging megadrought.’ Although 2019 was a relatively wet year, and natural climate variability could bring good luck in the form of more wet years that would end the drought, global warming increases the odds that it will continue. … Dr. Williams and his colleagues reconstructed drought conditions in the Southwest for every year back to 800 A.D., using tree growth as a proxy for soil moisture content. Examining nearly 1,600 tree-ring records, they found four periods of more than two decades each during which soil moisture content was far below the baseline for the entire 1,200 years, indicating severe drought conditions of lack of precipitation and increased dryness. One of these megadroughts, in the 13th century, lasted more than 90 years. Their analysis showed that, as measured by soil moisture content, the current drought is more severe than three of the ancient ones. Only one in the late 1500s was worse, and not by much, the researchers said. ‘Ancient megadroughts have always been seen by water managers as worst-case scenarios,’ Dr. Williams said, ‘and we just have to hope that there’s some kind of protection measure in the climate system that’s not going to allow one of those to repeat itself. And what we’re seeing is that we’re actually right on track for one.’” [The New York Times, 4/16/20 (+)]

 

The Western U.S. Is Locked In The Grips Of The First Human-Caused Megadrought, Study Finds. According to The Washington Post, “A vast region of the western United States, extending from California, Arizona and New Mexico north to Oregon and Idaho, is in the grips of the first climate change-induced megadrought observed in the past 1,200 years, a study shows. The finding means the phenomenon is no longer a threat for millions to worry about in the future, but is already here. The megadrought has emerged while thirsty, expanding cities are on a collision course with the water demands of farmers and with environmental interests, posing nightmare scenarios for water managers in fast-growing states. A megadrought is broadly defined as a severe drought that occurs across a broad region for a long duration, typically multiple decades. Unlike historical megadroughts triggered by natural climate cycles, emissions of heat-trapping gases from human activities have contributed to the current one, the study finds. Warming temperatures and increasing evaporation, along with earlier spring snowmelt, have pushed the Southwest into its second-worst drought in more than a millennium of observations. … California has already provided a model for living in a warmer and drier region, although it has involved sacrifice at times. Amid its drought in 2015, the state took aggressive steps to preserve water and limit wildfires on thirsty land with varying success. Former governor Jerry Brown (D) imposed the first water restrictions in state history and declared that watering lawns was going to be ‘a thing of the past’ in California. Water utilities essentially rationed supply, telling residents to dramatically cut the minutes they showered to no longer than 12 and all but mandating more efficient machines for laundry and dish washing. Utilities encouraged homeowners to purchase new appliances with rebates subsidized by the state, water bills spiked and penalties were imposed on any household that went over their limits. Neighbors spied on neighbors who washed cars, watered grass and sprayed driveways, all outlawed.” [The Washington Post, 4/16/20 (+)]

 

Calif. Dems To Governor, Bernhardt: Work It Out. According to E&E News, “Sen. Dianne Feinstein and four other California Democrats yesterday implored Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) to remedy a strained relationship and figure out a way to coordinate California’s two major water infrastructure projects. In a pair of letters, the lawmakers called for continuing the long-standing coordination of the federal Central Valley Project and State Water Project, which together ship water to 30 million Californians and millions of acres of farmland. The operation of the two systems of dams, canals and aqueducts has been coordinated since they were built decades ago. But that relationship has been strained recently, as California and Interior have issued differing endangered species requirements for the state’s water hub, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta east of San Francisco. ‘Given the seriousness of this challenge, we urge you to take advantage of what is likely the last opportunity to work with the state and seek a solution to this impasse,’ the lawmakers wrote in their letter to Bernhardt. Joining Feinstein were Democratic Reps. Jim Costa, John Garamendi, Josh Harder and TJ Cox, all of whom represent districts in California’s Central Valley, its agriculture hub. Both the projects pump water south out the delta, which is home to several endangered species, including the delta smelt.” [E&E News, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

Misc. Waterways

 

Corps Flip-Flops On Damage From Hunt For Oil In Big Cypress. 'Suspicious,' Environmentalists Say. According to Miami Herald, “The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has abruptly changed its mind about the damage a Texas-based oil exploration company has done in the Big Cypress National Preserve. The reversal came just a month after the agency found Burnett Oil Company’s seismic testing had caused ‘channelization’ and done extensive damage to ‘high quality wet prairie and dwarf cypress’ -- work the agency said violated federal environmental law. The short, four-paragraph April 7 letter written by Col. Andrew Kelly, the Corps’ commander who oversees Everglades restoration, provided no explanation for the flip-flop. But it essentially means that Burnett can continue to search for oil inside the preserve without the Corps’ oversight. Kelly said the Corps had ‘engaged with the staff at Big Cypress and re-evaluated all of the current and available information’ related to Burnett’s exploratory activities. The letter was first reported by National Parks Traveler on April 13 and also by the Herald’s news partner, WLRN. big cypress padOil drilling operations, like this one at Raccoon Point, have been going on for decades in the Big Cypress National Preserve. Environmentalists are fighting a proposed expansion. In emailed comments to the Miami Herald, the Corps said its staff had observed earlier this year ‘some areas that appeared to be rutted in the past by heavy equipment,’ but that currently it has ‘no clear evidence of any residual adverse effects from Burnett’s activities on the hydrology or biology of Big Cypress.’ The company can continue to operate under the permit from the Park Service, said the statement.” [Miami Herald, 4/16/20 (=)]

 

 

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