Archive for the 'clean water act' Category

Romney Water Pollution Record: Hundreds of Corporate Waivers to Dump Toxics into Massachusetts Water Supply

Published on 05/11/2012 in clean water act, contaminated water, greenwashing, policy and wastewater. 0 Comments Tags: .

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“As Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney gave industrial wastewater dischargers free rein to discharge chemicals into municipal treatment systems unable to filter them out of the Commonwealth’s waters, according to documents obtained by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

Industries with high quotients of toxics in their wastewater, such as manufacturers, carpet cleaners and laboratories, did not even have to monitor chemicals deposited in their wastewater.

Under Romney and his two Republican predecessors, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) allowed industries to discharge 1.4 million gallons of wastewater per day into municipal sewage plants without monitoring or permitting.  In 2006, PEER obtained copies of 278 “forbearance” letters from DEP telling companies that they need not even apply for sewer permits.

When PEER revealed the fact that this forbearance practice violated the Clean Water Act Regulations, the Romney administration abruptly proposed regulatory changes to formally exempt 90% of industrial sewer dischargers without even determining the amount of toxic chemicals in their wastewater.  Only after the threat of a lawsuit, the Romney administration finally agreed to a number of new rules that would require dischargers to report toxics to DEP and the sewage treatment plants.”

Read more: ENews Park Forest

 

lily victoria

Could the Erin Brockovich Chemical Be in Your Water?

Published on 04/28/2012 in clean water act, contaminated water and water filtering. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

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“If you’ve seen the movie Erin Brockovich, you’re likely familiar with hexavalent chromium. Also known as chromium-6, hexavalent chromium is a chemical that comes from chromium, a naturally occurring metal used for things like steel manufacturing and leather tanning.

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified chromium-6 as a likely carcinogen. Many experts believe the chemical can do serious damage if it is ingested.

“Dr. Sutton recently led a study of chromium-6 in U.S. public water supplies. EWG tested 35 cities across America and found the chemical in 31 of them. EWG conducted the study because, more than a decade after Erin Brockovich, the EPA only requires utilities to test for total chromium, not chromium-6. Earlier this month, the EPA delayed adopting a drinking water standard for chromium-6 until it completes an additional study.

“The lawsuit on which Erin Brockovich was based was settled in 1996, with Pacific Gas and Electric paying out $333 million to residents of Hinkley, California, many of whom claimed groundwater contaminated with chromium-6 gave them cancer.”

Read More: abc

Chippie Kislik

$6.6-million settlement reached on Malibu beach water pollution

Published on 04/16/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, clean water act and contaminated water. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

“Malibu has reached a $6.6-million legal settlement with environmental groups that both sides say will protect beachgoers by reducing the amount of polluted storm runoff that reaches the ocean.

“The settlement of a 2008 federal Clean Water Act lawsuit against the city by Santa Monica Baykeeper and the Natural Resources Defense Council was approved Friday by a unanimous vote of the Malibu City Council during a special closed-session meeting.

“The agreement requires Malibu to build rain-water harvesting, infiltration or treatment devices to catch storm water before it is released from 17 storm drains throughout the city. In all, the work will cost about $5.6 million, said City Atty. Christi Hogin, who noted that Malibu is already undertaking 11 of those projects.

“The city also agreed to pay the environmental groups $750,000 in legal fees and set aside $250,000 to fund an ocean health assessment of Santa Monica Bay in collaboration with scientists at Cal State Northridge.”

Read more: The L.A. Times

christinarichardson

EPA Sued Over Pollution Petition

Published on 04/04/2012 in clean water act, contaminated water, oceans, policy and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

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“Several environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency alleging the agency failed to approve a petition to lower pollution into the Mississippi River Basin and the northern Gulf of Mexico.

The groups claim that excessive nitrogen and phosphorous pollution into these waters have resulted in the largest North American “dead zone.”

Gulf Restoration Network, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Iowa Environmental Council, Tennessee Clean Water Network, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Sierra Club, Waterkeeper Alliance Inc., Prairie Rivers Network, Kentucky Waterways Alliance Environmental Law & Policy Center, and the Natural Resources Defense Council Inc. filed the lawsuit on March 13 in federal court in New Orleans.

The lawsuit concerns the EPA’s July 29, 2011, denial of a 2008 petition submitted pursuant to the Clean Water Act. The petition asked for revised or new state water quality standards and total maximum loads to address excessive nitrogen and phosphorous pollution in the waters of the Mississippi River Basin and the northern Gulf of Mexico.

According to the lawsuit, the excessive nutrient pollution in the waters causes or contributes to a massive low-oxygen “dead zone” in the Gulf and extensive water quality degradation.”

Read more: Legal Newsline

lily victoria

EPA fails to defend Clean Water Act

Published on 02/17/2012 in clean water act, policy and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.cleanwaternetwork.org

“The organizations, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), the Florida Clean Water Network, and the Androscoggin River Alliance, say EPA is ignoring blatant violations of this important protection and thereby encourages states to violate it, pointing to two recent cases: In Florida, EPA has dithered for nearly a year without action. In Maine, the administrator resigned due to a parallel state law which has since been weakened while EPA stayed silent.

The federal Clean Water Act bars appointment of any state decision-maker on pollution discharge permits who “has during the previous two years received a significant portion of his income directly or indirectly from permit holders or applicants for a permit.” Nonetheless, at least two states have recently done just that. Both conflicted environmental nominees were confirmed and then challenged by environmental groups; one was ousted and one remains but in both cases EPA remained on the sideline.

Nearly a year ago, on February 23, 2011, PEER and Florida Clean Water Network filed a legal complaint with EPA that Herschel Vinyard, Florida’s environmental secretary, and another top appointee should be legally barred from issuing water pollution permits due to Vinyard’s prior employment on behalf of shipyards.”

Read more: examiner.com

lily victoria

Fight Over Water Regulations Gaining Steam

Published on 01/23/2012 in clean water act, contaminated water, management, policy, rivers, tap water, wastewater and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

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“The proposed regulations are meant to address a stronger nationwide push from the Environmental Protection Agency to cut the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus discharged from wastewater treatment plants into rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs. But opponents question the science used to support the need for the regulations, and warn that water bills could double or even triple for some Colorado ratepayers if municipalities are forced to upgrade their facilities.

Earlier this month, the Pikes Peak Area Council of Governments sent a letter to Gov. John Hickenlooper urging him to block the proposed regulations. The same day, Republican state Sen. Steve King of Grand Junction introduced a bill that would essentially place a moratorium on the adoption of regulations.

“This action is not mandated by federal law, nor is it based on any demonstrated adverse environmental impacts occurring in Colorado waters from our facilities,” the PPACG wrote to Hickenlooper. “The cost of implementing such regulations on small and medium-sized communities will be staggering, and we ask for your intervention to stop this regulatory mandate.

Steve Gunderson, director of the Water Quality Control Division at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, defends the science, but acknowledges that compliance could be costly. However, he notes, only about 30 percent of wastewater plants in Colorado would be affected by the regulations, which are, at the outset, more lenient than what some environmentalists might consider ideal.

Mostly, he says, the state needs to act before the EPA steps in.

“We continue to believe that is to Colorado’s benefit to start addressing the nutrients so it’s not forced on us by means of a lawsuit of the EPA dictating to us what needs to be done,” Gunderson says.”

Read more: gazette.com

lily victoria

The Shocking Republican Attack on the Environment and Our Drinking Water

Published on 12/11/2011 in agriculture, clean water act, contaminated water, groundwater, management, policy, rivers, tap water and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

 

Retrieved from: www.summittotalhealth.com

“This year, residents of Midland, Texas sued Dow Chemical for dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium in their drinking water. Chromium-6 is a cancer-causing chemical made infamous by Julia Roberts’ film, “Erin Brockovich.” There are currently no drinking water standards for chromium-6, and the chemical industry is delaying a new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assessment labeling it a potent carcinogen.

This is far from an isolated scenario, threats to the public drinking water supply are national in scope. From the 1950s to the 1980s, trichloroethylene, a carcinogenic metal degreaser, lurked, undetected, in the drinking water at North Carolina’s Fort Lejeune — affecting up to one million marines and their families.

California’s San Joaquin River and San Francisco Bay Delta are contaminated with selenium and mercury.

Atrazine, an agricultural weedkiller, frequently pollutes groundwater across the Midwest corn-belt.”

Read more: Alternet

 

lily victoria

Josh Fox: Are We About to Witness the Liquidation Sale of New York and its Drinking Water?

Published on 11/30/2011 in clean water act, contaminated water, fracking, mining, natural gas drilling, privatization, tap water, uncategorized and water rights. 0 Comments

“This is a conversation about community and sharing the voices from the gaslands of America. This is the story of Josh Fox, his movieGasland and about his current, Save the Delaware campaign. “Is this the liquidation sale of New York and our drinking water?” asks Josh Fox.

This is a week to celebrate the sudden November 17 cancellation of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) meeting where they were expected to vote on new gas drilling regulations, i.e. green-light fracking in the Delaware River basin that provides drinking water for 16.5 million people. On the 17th Governor of Delaware, Jack Markell announced that his state would be voting “no” on the new DRBC regulations that would have allowed 20,000 wells to be fracked in the watershed. Governor Cuomo of New York had already stated that he would vote “no” which left the expected “yes” votes of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, leaving the deciding vote to a representative for President Obama; a very complicated decision for him and one with risky implications. This is a movement about building coalitions, including the Delaware Riverkeeper that lead the numerous grassroots organizations organizing the event in Trenton, New Jersey on November 21.

So a momentary respite from the threats of gas drilling to the Delaware was celebrated on November 21 as hundreds of people traveled to the already scheduled rally in Trenton, New Jersey which included actors and activists, Debra Winger and Mark Ruffalo residents of upstate NY. In addition, Julie and Craig Sautner of Dimock, PA who are still without safe drinking water three years later, as promised by Cabot Oil, gave their support of the victory for the watershed and served to remind us of what’s at stake.”

Read More: Alternet.org

 

jenna cavelle

EPA backs off tough clean-water rules in hopes of helping Obama carry Florida in 2012

Published on 11/07/2011 in clean water act, contaminated water, lakes, management, policy, rivers and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Retrieved from: www.care2.com

“Two years ago, after a lawsuit charged that the Environmental Protection Agency wasn’t adequately enforcing the Clean Water Act in Florida, the EPA agreed to set specific anti-pollution standards for the state’s lakes, rivers, streams and estuaries. A year ago, the EPA announced the standards but gave the state an extra 15 months to comply. Yet polluting industries and government utilities kept complaining, claiming that the cost of compliance would bankrupt companies and drastically raise customers’ water bills. The resistance got bipartisan support from the state’s politicians.

Last week, the EPA surrendered. In a letter to Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Herschel Vinyard, EPA acting Assistant Administrator Nancy K. Stoner said the agency would let Florida develop its own anti-pollution rules. Those are significantly weaker. Notably, the EPA’s original plan would have set tough criteria to keep waters from becoming polluted. As conservation groups pointed out in comments to the DEP, the state system would postpone action until a lake, stream or river has been declared dirty.”

Read more: The Palm Beach Post

 

lily victoria

Water additive chloramine causes controversy

Published on 10/17/2011 in clean water act, contaminated water, groundwater, policy, tap water and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.freshwatersystems.com

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says chloramine has been used by water utilities for nearly 90 years, and 1 in 5 Americans uses drinking water treated with chloramine. The agency says its use is closely regulated, and it can reduce haloacetic acids in drinking water. Haloacetic acids are a cancer risk.

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Joseph Ferson said just less than half the state’s population, 2.9 million of 6.5 million people, uses public water supplies disinfected by chloramines, most notably the 30 communities served by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. In addition 160,000 private and unregulated wells use chloramine to disinfect drinking water, said Mr. Ferson, who estimated this represents another 480,000 residents, or three people per well.

Worcester’s water supply does not use it, he said.

On Aug. 11, Southbridge was authorized by the state Department of Environmental Protection to use chloramine as of Sept. 28.

The change comes at the urging of the EPA, which has regulations taking effect in 2013 to reduce the levels of total trihalomethanes, or TTHM, the organic chlorine residualcq, to an average of 80 parts per billion throughout a water system.

The regulation is part of the amended federal Safe Drinking Water Act; TTHM can result in damage to the liver, kidney or central nervous system and carries increased risks of cancer, the government says. ”

Read more: telegram.com

lily victoria