National News

Judge Shifts Legal Brawl, Revives WOTUS in 26 States. “The Obama-era Clean Water Rule became the law in 26 states today as a federal judge in South Carolina issued a nationwide injunction on the Trump administration's delay of the regulation that defines what wetlands and waterways get federal protection.” [E&E News, 8/16/18 (+)]

Unions, Tribes Back Clean Water Act Change to Boost Energy Projects as State Concerns Surface. “New legislation to rein in state use of Clean Water Act authorities to block energy projects would restore predictability for natural gas pipeline projects needed to take shale gas to market, affecting thousands of labor jobs, a trade union official told a Senate committee Thursday. But Democrats are already pointing to state concerns that such an approach could impair their ability to manage water quality. A Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing Thursday came as industry frustration has mounted over high-profile denials by New York regulators of water quality certifications for interstate natural gas pipelines, including Williams' Constitution Pipeline and National Fuel Gas Supply and Empire Pipeline's Northern Access project. The panel is considering S.3303, a bill put forward by Committee Chairman John Barrasso, Republican-Wyoming, along with Republicans Shelly Capito of West Virginia, Steve Daines of Montana and James Inhofe of Oklahoma. The legislation would limit reviews under CWA Section 401 to considering water quality impacts and require that state regulators consider only those impacts directly related to the project.” [S&P Global, 8/16/18 -)]

Barrasso Aims to Change the Clean Water Act to Give States Less Power to Stop Projects. [Casper Star Tribune, 8/16/18 (-)]

Five Ways a New Fish Bill Could Hurt Marine Management. “What the farm bill is to terrestrial food production, the fish bill, a.k.a. the Magnuson-Stevens Act, is to the ocean — the law that governs America’s marine fisheries. First passed in 1976 to kick foreign fishing fleets out of American waters, the MSA has evolved into one of the nation’s most effective conservation laws. A reauthorization in 1996 required managers to place all overfished stocks on strict rebuilding timelines, and another in 2006 mandated hard limits on total catches. Those science-based provisions have recovered 44 once-depleted stocks, from the canary rockfish to the barndoor skate. But not everyone thinks the fish bill is still fresh. Rep. Don Young, an Alaska Republican, has long argued that its rules against overfishing hurt coastal economies. On July 11, the House passed H.R. 200, the Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act, mostly along party lines. The reauthorization, claimed Young, who sponsored the bill, would strike ‘a proper balance between the biological needs of fish stocks and the economic needs of fishermen.’ Environmentalists see it differently. By weakening the very stipulations that have made Magnuson-Stevens so effective, cautioned Ted Morton, oceans director at the Pew Charitable Trusts, the bill could “undercut the important role science plays in management decisions” and increase overfishing. Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat, dubbed Young’s legislation the Empty Oceans Act.” [The Fern, 8/16/18 (=)]

Nunavut Hunters, Harvesters Rejoice over Bowhead Whale Catch. “Mealia Sheutiapik was visiting Iqaluit’s Elders’ Qammaq on Tuesday afternoon when she heard the news that hunters from the Nunavut community had successfully captured a bowhead whale. The catch marks the first bowhead harvested in Iqaluit in seven years and only the second one in around a century. It’s no wonder, then, that one elder at the Qammaq started singing to hunters over a CB radio, in a chant of ‘Olé, Olé, Olé.’ The crew quickly joined the chorus, until everyone was cheering back through the radio to the elders on land.  Sheutiapik, who took part in the butchering of the bowhead whale the following day, plans to bring the whale skin delicacy known as maqtaq back to Ottawa where she lives, to share with her Inuit community there. The woman was visiting Iqaluit to see family and go clam digging—but being around for a bowhead harvest was even better. ‘It’s the best experience in life,’ she said.” [Nunatsiaq News, 8/16/18 (=)]