FREQUENT WATER RULE CHANGES MAY ARM INDUSTRY LEGAL ATTACK

A recent spate of changes to EPA's embattled Clean Water Act impaired waters proposal could aid industry in future litigation over the rule, attorneys for industry argue, because the changes were made solely to garner support from the environmental community and other sympathetic stakeholders, and may violate the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). The APA sets the standards federal agencies must follow in developing rules and regulations, and requires extensive public involvement for substantive changes. Meanwhile, the rule is gaining some...

HOUSE MEMBERS BLAST EPA OVER COST ANALYSES OF PROPOSED TMDL RULE

House lawmakers are again calling for EPA to withdraw proposed revisions to its impaired waters program amid charges that the agency is not in compliance with the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). The charges come as a result of a report by the General Accounting Office (GAO) that raises questions about EPA's cost and benefit analyses. Rep. Bud Shuster (R-PA), Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, and Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Water...

INDUSTRY FEARS EPA WILL USE WATER BOARD MERCURY REPORT AS NEW TMDL

The San Francisco regional water board earlier this month took a significant step toward addressing the presence of mercury in the San Francisco Bay by transmitting to EPA a total maximum daily load (TMDL) resolution and report. The resolution does not include language suggested by dischargers urging EPA Region IX to reject adopting the report as a TMDL until the state produces an implementation plan. An industry source said dischargers are fearful EPA will adopt the technical report as a...

COURT TO MAP WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENTS FOR MINING OPERATIONS

A federal judge is expected to determine the legal requirements for conducting a water quality assessment of mining operations. The judge's decision would provide first-time clarification under the Surface Mining Control & Reclamation Act (SMCRA) regarding the development of a cumulative hydrological impact assessment (CHIA). The potential clarification is central to litigation brought by citizens and environmentalists against state regulators concerning the proposed expansion of mining operations and its watershed impacts and effects on wildlife. Judge Robert C. Chambers of...

CRITICS SUE TO OVERTURN CALIFORNIA WATER QUALITY IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

A coalition of environmental groups has sued the California Water Board in state court over its implementation plan for the federal water quality standards known as the California Toxics Rule (CTR), alleging the plan is too weak to protect water quality. The CTR became effective in mid-May, but environmentalists claim long compliance schedules will delay full implementation by 20 years, and that the document gives in to discharger demands by granting compliance schedules longer than five years. Filing of the...

LOTT EYES WRDA AS POSSIBLE WAY OUT OF SUPERFUND DEAL WITH CRAPO

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) and his staff are negotiating to break his commitment not to move brownfields legislation this year under the condition that Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) Chairman Bob Smith (R-NH) expeditiously moves the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), sources close to the issue say. This legislation includes billions of dollars in water development projects and is a favorite among members of both parties, particularly during an election year. These sources say Lott might be...

GREAT WATERS PLAN UNLIKELY TO INCLUDE MORE REGULATION

EPA air and water staffers are piecing together an action plan on future agency air deposition reduction efforts for the Great Lakes region and the Chesapeake Bay that will not call for new regulatory action. The development of the plan comes on the heels of EPA's release of an optimistic report to Congress on the status of air deposition and water pollution in the Great Waters -- the Great Lakes, Lake Champlain, and the Chesapeake Bay. But environmentalists are expressing...

TANK OFFICE NEEDS MILLIONS MORE TO LIMIT GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION

EPA's Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) says Congress must double resources towards the cleanup program to ensure the tanks meet a set of 1988 rules requiring tank owners to upgrade their systems to prevent groundwater contamination. The agency needs as high as an extra $93 million and $70 million per year for the next several years to meet that goal, EPA argues. But congressional staff say low spending caps in Congress' fiscal year 2001 spending bills makes it nearly...

CRAPO MULLS BILL TO DELAY KEY ARSENIC, FILTER BACKWASH RULES

Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), the chairman of the Senate drinking water subcommittee, is considering drafting a bill that would delay statutory promulgation requirements for safe drinking water rules governing arsenic and filter backwash. Speaking at a June 29 hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee's subcommittee on fisheries, wildlife and drinking water, Crapo said that he may pursue Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) implementation issues in a "non-controversial bill." According to one water industry source, Crapo has been...

STATES, INDUSTRY SAY MINE CLEANUP BILL OFFERS LIMITED PROTECTIONS

A bill sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), the ranking Democrat on the Senate environment committee, ran into stiff opposition last week when a host of stakeholders raised concerns that the bill does not go far enough in offering liability protections to states and private parties who seek to limit discharges from abandoned mines. Last year, Baucus had revised an earlier version of the bill to win support from EPA and environmentalists. But the changes made to the bill now...

HOUSE LEAVES MANY ENVIRONMENTAL 'RIDERS' IN EPA BUDGET BILL

The House June 21 voted against EPA, environmentalists and their allies on Capitol Hill on a series of substantive policy issues contained in EPA's budget bill, including votes to leave intact restrictions on the use of certain cleanup technologies by EPA and drinking water regulations, and even added new language prohibiting the agency from designating areas with particularly poor air quality. The House passed the VA, HUD & Independent Agencies appropriations bill that contains $7.15 billion for EPA by a...

SENATE APPROVES BAN ON IMPLEMENTATION OF EPA TMDL RULE

The Senate June 30 approved a military construction and disaster relief supplemental funding bill that includes language prohibiting EPA from finalizing or implementing its embattled Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Clean Water Act rule until at least the end of next fiscal year -- signifying a major setback for the agency's attempts to finalize the rule. House members approved the language June 29. Congressional sources say the language was included in a conference committee report on the bill late on...

Text: Excerpts Of Military Construction Spending Bill

None of the funds made available for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 for the Environmental Protection Agency may be used to make a final determination on or implement any new rule relative to the Proposed Revisions to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program and Federal Antidegradation Policy and the Proposed Revisions to the Water Quality Planning and Management Regulations Concerning Total Maximum Daily Load, published in the Federal Register on August 23, 1999. Source: Water Policy Report via InsideEPA.com Issue: Vol. 9, No. 14 ;

FINAL ACTION UNCERTAIN ON SENATE-BACKED OCEANS STUDY BILL

The Senate has passed a bill that takes steps to forming for the first time a coordinated and comprehensive national policy to manage ocean resources. But revisions made to the measure to make it politically palatable may spark opposition by environmentalists and others, leaving the prospects for a similar measure in the House uncertain, some sources say. S. 2327 was passed by unanimous voice vote by the Senate on June 26. The measure would create a 16-member commission of representatives...

PUBLIC HEALTH ADVOCATES CALL FOR STRICTER MERCURY CONTROLS

Public health advocates are urging EPA to crack down on mercury releases into the environment because of the detrimental health effects associated with children's exposures. EPA must make several major policy calls before the end of the year relating to the mercury that is emitted from coal-fired utility power plants. In addition, the agency's evaluation of mercury risks will provide key guidance to states on their fish-consumption advisory programs for freshwater lakes and rivers. The advocates are asserting that the...

Water Policy Report - 07/05/2000

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