Inside EPA - 01/03/1997

Fri, 1997-01-03 00:00

ENVIRONMENTALISTS BLAST BILL TO SPUR LOGGING ON FEDERAL LANDS

Draft forestry legislation introduced last month by Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) is drawing fire from environmentalists who claim, among other things, that the bill would thwart future efforts to develop strong, enforceable state nonpoint source water programs. Craig, who chairs the Senate subcommittee on Forests & Public Lands Management and has been a vocal critic of current federal forestry practices, circulated draft legislation last week which would permit federal forest lands to be used for multiple purposes, including logging. "The...

FARM GROUPS RESIST LINKS BETWEEN STORMWATER, NONPOINT SOURCES

Agriculture industry representatives are warning EPA officials about the Clean Water Act (CWA) limits on the authority of water quality regulators to assure adequate nonpoint source controls before increasing municipal regulatory requirements for stormwater discharges. A senior Office of Wastewater Management (OWM) official says agriculture officials misunderstood the purpose of recent EPA discussions with states and cities about developing strong nonpoint source control program before subjecting cities to much more regulation. In a recent letter, the American Farm Bureau Federation...

REG REINVENTION REMAINS HIGH PRIORITY IN 1997 WATER PROGRAM

Office of Water (OW) sources say regulatory reinvention efforts will remain a top priority in 1997, despite growing agreement among some agency staff that resources could be better spent in other water program areas. In 1995, under the administration's reinvention initiative, EPA staff began a comprehensive effort to revise and further improve regulations across the agency. As part of this effort, OW proposed to streamline and reduce cumbersome requirements in a number of programs. This effort included streamlining administrative procedures...

EPA LOOKS TO BROADEN DIOXIN STRATEGY FOR OCEAN DUMPING

EPA is considering broadening its guidance for determining thresholds for ocean-dumping of wastes containing dioxin, according to administration sources who say that the agency is now interested in expanding the effort to include other bioaccumulative contaminants. But agency staff warn that the management strategy has been slowed considerably and that no definitive decisions have been made on whether the scope of the dumping guidance should be expanded. Nonetheless, one environmentalist says any effort to get this document out in any...

PROPERTY RIGHTS ADVOCATES URGE FAIR STATE APPROACH ON WETLANDS

In the face of a controversial Army Corps of Engineers proposal to phase out a general permit to develop wetlands, property rights advocates are gearing up an effort to assure that states won't deny the use of wetlands general permits because of "overstated" concerns about water quality impacts. Grass roots activists are circulating a draft letter to governors on certifying nationwide permits (NWPs). On Dec. 13, the Corps announced in the Federal Register that the acreage limits for Nationwide Permit...

INDUSTRY CALLS FOR HILL ACTION ON CORPS' WETLANDS PERMIT PHASEOUT

Wetlands regulation reform advocates may seek legislative action to block an Army Corps of Engineers proposal to phase out a controversial but widely used general permit for the development of these resources. The Corps -- as part of its regular five-year reissuance of wetlands permits -- announced Dec. 13 that it would stop issuing nationwide wetlands permit 26 (NWP 26) by December 1998 (Water Policy Report , Dec. 4, p4). Environmentalists, who note concerns over the cumulative impact of this...

STATES CALL ON ARMY CORPS TO CHANGE WETLANDS PERMIT PROCESS

State officials are calling on the Army Corps of Engineers to change its nationwide wetlands permit process, claiming the current Corps system undermines the ability of states to exercise their Clean Water Act authority to veto general wetlands permits. The issue has also raised the ire of environmental groups who say they will consider legal action if the Corps continues to issue general permits in states which have refused to certify projects based on water quality concerns ( Water Policy...

SEDIMENT CRITERIA MAY EXPAND SUPERFUND LIABILITY FOR DISCHARGERS

Industry officials are raising serious concerns that if EPA broadens the scope of final sediment quality criteria (SQC), the agency will significantly expand their cleanup liability under the Superfund statute. While the Office of Water (OW) intends to finalize a first round of SQC in early 1997, according to high ranking OW officials, environmental groups are pushing the agency to expand the list of SQC pollutants in light of the agency's slow progress to date. SQC determines safe levels of...

LOCAL OFFICIALS UNHAPPY WITH DIRECTION OF NEW STORMWATER RULE

Municipal officials nearly abandoned recent federal advisory panel discussions on the Stormwater phase II regulation because of concerns that the rule, as the agency is drafting it, would unfairly increase requirements on small cities and towns until they were at the same level of regulation as large municipalities. EPA officials were able to avert the walkout by assuring the municipal participants that this was not the case, though some stakeholders remain leery that the agency may reverse its decision sometime...

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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