Tag Archive for 'clean water act'

Why Federal Efforts to Ensure Clean Tap Water Fail to Reach Faucets Nationwide

Published on 05/12/2013 in contaminated water and policy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Retrieved from: NY Times

“Laura Garcia was halfway through the breakfast dishes when the spigot went dry. The small white tank beneath the sink that purified her undrinkable water had run out. Still, as annoying as that was, it was an improvement over the days before Ms. Garcia got her water filter, when she had to do her dishes using water from five-gallon containers she bought at a local store.

“Ms. Garcia’s well water, like that of her neighbors, is laced with excessivenitrates, a pollutant associated with agriculture, septic systems and some soils. Five years ago, this small community of 49 homes near the southern end of the Central Valley took its place on California’s priority list of places in need of clean tap water.

“Today the community is still stuck on that list, with no federal help in sight.

“Monson’s situation has parallels in places around the country, large and small, seeking federal funds under theSafe Drinking Water Act. The Environmental Protection Agency distributes these funds to state agencies that are supposed to identify problems and underwrite solutions. By the E.P.A.’s calculations, no state has been as inept in distributing the money as California.”

Read more: NY Times

sammykayed

Senators Urging Against Clean Water Progress

Published on 04/26/2013 in aquatic ecosystems, contaminated water and management. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Retrieved from: Clean water action

“Yesterday’s letter to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Acting Administrator Bob Perciasepe from over two dozen Republican Senators urges EPA to perpetuate the stalemate which is leaving drinking water sources without Clean Water Act protection.

“We hope this letter has the opposite effect, which is to remind the Administration that we can’t face today’s clean water challenges with this kind of vulnerability affecting so many of our precious water resources. The science is behind this. Despite this letter’s claims, the intent of the Clean Water Act is behind this.

“And if that’s not enough, consider this:

  • The water bodies left vulnerable to pollution and destruction serve the drinking water sources for over 117 million people in the United States.
  • Just last month, EPA released a report on the condition of our nation’s rivers and streams which found that 55% of them are unhealthy for aquatic life.”

Read more: Clean water action

sammykayed

You Don’t Miss Your Water…

Published on 10/19/2012 in contaminated water and policy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Retrieved from: Appvoices

“When 40 years ago yesterday Congress passed the Clean Water Act, no one had to ask why we needed it. Memories were still fresh of seeing Ohio’s Cuyahoga River actually catch fire, and many of our national waterways were filthy. In the four decades that followed passage of the Clean Water Act, things improved a lot. So much so, in fact, that we’re now in danger of taking clean water for granted. That would be a mistake because even though the threats to our water are not as obvious as they were 40 years ago, they’re still deadly serious.

“Although Cuyahoga hasn’t caught fire lately, communities across the U.S. are still discovering that their water supplies are being contaminated by industrial and agricultural pollutants like nitrates, perchlorate, and hexavalent chromium. Natural gas fracking, which could contaminate entire aquifers, is rampant and poorly regulated.

“Back in 1972, Congress rose to the occasion with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote to pass the Clean Water Act. I wish I could say the same for the Congress of today. I can’t. Not only has it done nothing to strengthen clean water protections — it has done everything it could to weaken them, with vote after vote. Although that’s in keeping with its ignominious reputation as the most anti-environmental Congress in our nation’s history, it still amazes me that so many politicians are willing to put the interests of plutocratic polluters ahead of the health and welfare of their own constituents.”

Read more: Huffington post

sammykayed

Fighting Pollution Trading to Preserve the Clean Water Act

Published on 10/05/2012 in contaminated water and policy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Retrieved from: EPA

“This week, Food & Water Watch and Friends of the Earth filed a joint lawsuit to force the Environmental Protection Agency to preserve the integrity of the Clean Water Act as it turns 40 years old this month. Represented by the Columbia Law School’s Environmental Law Clinic, we are suing for the removal of the water pollution trading provisions that are part of the 2010 plan to clean up the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

“This cap-and-trade plan for water, known as the Bay total maximum daily load or TMDL, is being promoted by both the EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, both of which view the program in the Bay region as a national model that would be replicated in watersheds across the nation. But if this scheme is allowed to move forward it will allow new and increased pollution discharges into the Chesapeake Bay watershed under a complex system of market-based offsets and pollution trading that we believe is illegal under the Clean Water Act.

“Pollution trading violates the fundamental concept that the Clean Water Act is built upon, which is that pollution is illegal and industries don’t have a right to poison our shared waterways. Ironically, this evisceration of the Clean Water Act is taking place as the landmark piece of legislation that was passed during the Nixon Administration is about to have its 40th anniversary. It is built on the premise that we should strive to eliminate water pollution from our lakes, rivers and bays. Water pollution trading schemes are a disastrous substitute for proven means of regulating harmful chemical discharges into our waterways.”

Read more: Huffington Post

sammykayed

$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

Power Plants Face EPA Cooling-Water Rules to Protect Fish

Published on 03/29/2011 in clean water act, nuclear power and policy. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Entergy said last month that it was worried the EPA rule would force it to to spend $1.2 billion building two cooling towers at its Indina Point plant. Photographer: Mike Di Paola/Bloomberg

“Utilities such as Entergy Corp. (ETR) face U.S. rules aimed at preventing fish from being sucked into cooling-water systems and costing industry $384 million a year, the Environmental Protection Agency said.

“The Obama administration’s proposal introduced yesterday will affect more than 1,200 facilities and save billions of aquatic organisms, including 615 million fish and shellfish a year, the agency said in an e-mailed statement.

“The EPA rule, part of a court settlement with environmental groups, will cover power plants and factories that pull water from rivers or lakes to cool machines. Existing facilities will work with states to determine how to meet the requirements while new units will have to use closed-cycle cooling, a system that draws less water and ensnares fewer fish.

““The EPA’s approach is likely to minimize the industry’s cost of compliance,” Hugh Wynne, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein & Co. in New York, wrote today in a report to clients.

“The EPA’s pending proposal under the Clean Water Act had been singled out by energy companies, industry groups and Republican lawmakers as a regulation that may burden electric utilities and cause some coal-fired power plants to shut down.

“Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican, in December said the rule might cost utilities as much as $300 million per site for coal-fired plants and as much as $1 billion for nuclear generators, exceeding the EPA’s projections.

“Exelon Corp. (EXC), owner of the most U.S. nuclear plants, said today the EPA’s proposed standard doesn’t require existing plants to build costly cooling towers.”

Read more: Bloomberg

jenna cavelle

U.S. House Slashes Funding for Public Health, Clean Air, Clean Water

Published on 02/19/2011 in climate change, contaminated water, management, policy and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: MNN

“Early this morning, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a funding bill that environmentalists say amounts to the biggest attack on clean air and clean water in recent history.

“H.R. 1, the continuing resolution offered by House Republicans to keep the government funded for the rest of the fiscal year, passed by a vote of 235-189. Only three Republicans joined all the Democrats in voting no.

“American Lung Association President and CEO Charles Connor called the bill “a severe assault on the health of all Americans.”

“H.R. 1 slashes the budget of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by one-third and prevents the agency from restoring Clean Water Act protections for many of the nation’s most vulnerable waterways, including those that feed into drinking water supplies for more than 117 million Americans.

“In a statement today House Speaker John Boeher said, “This week, for the first time in many years, the People’s House was allowed to work its will – and the result was one of the largest spending cuts in American history. I call on Senate Majority Leader Reid to allow it to come to an immediate vote.”

“Now the bill goes to the Senate for consideration. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said, “Democrats believe we should make smart cuts – cuts that target waste and excess, not slashing the programs that keep us safe and keep our economy growing.”

Read more: ENS news

sammykayed

Big Coal’s Watergate? Nation Watches as Clean Water Act Scandal Rocks Kentucky Court Today

Published on 01/28/2011 in contaminated water and mining. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

“Extraordinary investigative work turned up over 20,000 incidences of Clean Water Act violations by three coal companies. Now will they finally be held accountable?

“Clean water advocates and concerned citizens across the nation will be monitoring a blockbuster Kentucky court case today, which will ultimately determine whether citizens can intervene in a state’s gross mishandling of indisputable acts of contempt and egregious Clean Water Act violations by two coal companies.

“According to many observers, the sheer number of fraudulent acts and mind-boggling oversights could turn this case into Big Coal’s Watergate–or Clean Watergate.

“Thanks to the extraordinary investigative work of clean water advocates, Kentucky subsidiaries of International Coal Group and Frasure Creek Mining were singled out in an intent to sue notice last October of “over 20,000 incidences of these three companies either exceeding permit pollution limits, failing to submit reports, or falsifying the required monitoring data. These violations could result in fines that may exceed 740 million dollars.””

Read more: AlterNet

jenna cavelle

EPA declares L.A. River navigable waters

Published on 07/08/2010 in policy and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: , .

The concrete lined Los Angeles River. Retrieved from: LA Times

“U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on Wednesday declared the entire concrete-lined Los Angeles River channel “traditional navigable waters,” a designation crucial to applying Clean Water Act protections throughout its 834-square-mile urban watershed.

“We’re moving away from the concrete,” Jackson told more than 200 residents and government officials on the banks of one of the river’s heavily polluted tributaries, Compton Creek.

“This is a watershed as important as any other,” she said. “So we are going to build a federal partnership to empower communities like yours .… We want the L.A. River to demonstrate how urban waterways across the country can serve as assets in building stronger neighborhoods, attracting new businesses and creating new jobs.”

“The decision may seem odd to people who know the L.A. River as a flood-control channel of treated water a few inches deep flowing between massive, graffiti-marred concrete banks strewn with rotting garbage and broken glass, and occasionally polluted with chemicals illegally dumped in storm drains and gutters that empty into it.

“Jackson said the EPA considered factors beyond whether the river’s flow and depth can support navigation from its origins at the confluence of the Arroyo Calabasas and Bell Creek in the San Fernando Valley all the way to San Pedro Bay, a distance of about 51 miles.”

read more: LA Times

chrismorrow

Restore the Clean Water Act

Published on 06/26/2010 in policy and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Retrieved from: Treehugger.com

“The Clean Water Act was first implemented nearly 40 years ago. It is arguably one of the most successful environmental laws ever passed and a generation of Americans has enjoyed safer, fishable, and swimmable waters because of it. However, in the past decade, misguided court decisions and Bush Administration directives have broken the Clean Water Act, opening the door for corporate polluters to contaminate previously protected waters — putting the drinking supply of over 117 million Americans at risk.

“On April 21st, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN), along with Reps. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) and John Dingell (D-MI), introduced America’s Commitment to Clean Water Act (H.R. 5088), or ACCWA, to address the disrepair of the Clean Water Act and restore its original intent. ACCWA would reinstate protections to the estimated 59% of streams and 20 million acres of wetlands at risk. Last June, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved similar legislation, known as the Clean Water Restoration Act (S. 787).

“We applaud Chairman Oberstar, and leaders in the Senate, for their continued leadership as clean water is one of the most crucial public health, safety and environmental issues we face.”

read more: Huffington Post

chrismorrow