INDUSTRY QUESTIONS FAIRNESS OF EPA'S ENVIRONMENTAL APPEALS BOARD

As EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) prepares to hear a precedent-setting stormwater management case, industry attorneys are raising concerns that the board is unlikely to rule against EPA, charging that the board generally acts as a "rubber stamp" for agency permitting and enforcement decisions. While observers differ on whether the board is unfairly biased, there is broad agreement among industry attorneys that the EAB rarely overturns agency decisions on appeal from regulated companies. But EAB Judge Edward Reich told Water...

DISCHARGER APPEALS COURT'S 'WATER QUALITY CERTIFICATION' RULING

Industry and local government officials have appealed a federal court ruling that if upheld could require states to certify that grazing, mining, roadbuilding and other activities on federal lands do not violate water quality standards. The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, in the case of The Oregon Natural Desert Association v. United States Forest Service (Civil No. 94-522-HA), ruled Sept. 27 that Clean Water Act Section 401 requires states to assure that permitted activities on federal lands...

EPA OUTLINES ADDITIONAL SPENDING FOR NEW DRINKING WATER PROGRAMS

The Office of Water (OW) will receive $13 million out of a requested $15 million in additional funding for Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) implementation, according to the fiscal year 1997 operating plan that the agency has submitted to Congress. The bulk of this funding will be aimed at quickly advancing the agency's work on identifying new drinking water contaminants and establishing a state loan program to fund construction of drinking water treatment plants. As part of the Sept. 30...

ENVIRONMENTALISTS QUESTION EPA DELAYS ON ARSENIC STANDARD

Environmental groups are charging that EPA delays in issuing a drinking water standard for arsenic are due to politics and not sound science. The environmentalists have leveled these charges as EPA unveils plans for its upcoming research strategy on the standard. Some in the environmental community believe this latest hitch is part of a larger EPA pattern of deferring implementation of the new Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), a charge agency officials deny. Last month, EPA decided to postpone promulgation...

EPA, SCIENTISTS FAVOR INITIAL BYPRODUCT LIMIT FOR DRINKING WATER RULE

EPA will likely proceed with a critical interim drinking water disinfectant standard, according to Office of Water (OW) sources, despite holding meetings to revisit the standard in light of research delays. These agency sources say that EPA is not likely to back away from a disinfectant byproduct (DBP) standard proposed in an earlier regulatory negotiation. EPA proposed an interim DBP standard for drinking water as part of a cluster of risk-based drinking water standards that balances the threat posed by...

REGIONS ASK EPA HEADQUARTERS TO STEP UP KEY CRITERIA DEVELOPMENT

EPA regional officials are urging headquarters to step up water quality criteria research for wildlife and metals in order to expedite agency action on these policies. In response to this request, Office of Water (OW) staff asked for additional criteria funding in future Office of Research and Development (ORD) budgets in a Dec. 19 meeting. Water quality criteria are numeric or scientific methodologies for establishing designated uses under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and assessing a waterbody's health. OW has...

Text: Draft Core Performance Measures for the Office Of Water

Office of Water Core Performance Measures Draft - 12/2/96 Environmental Goals: Clean Water/Safe Drinking Water Core Environmental Indicators States: Percent change in selected pollutants discharged from point sources into surface waters (data obtained from EPA’s Permit Compliance System) Core Program Output Measures Regions : List, by State/Tribe, the actions taken by the Regional NPDES program to support watershed permitting efforts. List of tribes with completed Tribal/EPA Environmental Agreements List: 1) Treatment-as-a-State (TAS) status for each Tribe and 2) status of...

OW CORE MEASURES DRAFT REVEALS NEW WATER PROGRAM PRIORITIES

EPA's Office of Water (OW) program goals for 1998 and 1999 emphasize traditional Clean Water Act (CWA) and Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requirements for state and regional programs, according to draft water program core performance measures obtained by Water Policy Report . EPA and state water officials are in the final stages of developing key program priorities for the states and regions. These "core elements" will reflect the highest priority water program elements for performance partnership agreements and grants...

Water Policy Report - 01/01/1997

Wed, 1997-01-01 00:00

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