River News for the Week of January 26, 2001
GULF OF MEXICO: The Clinton Administration has announced a long term plan for dealing with the problem of the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, a growing area of the ocean that no longer supports life because of pollution that results in low levels of dissolved oxygen. The final plan, released last week by the Environmental Protection Agency, calls for a reduction of the Gulf dead zone to less than 5,000 square kilometers through a series of specific, practical, and cost-effective voluntary actions. To meet this goal, the White House plan calls for increases in financial and technical assistance for landowners implementing conservation measures and the development of new partnerships to reduce polluted runoff into the basin. The plan also calls for additional water quality monitoring and public education.
The "dead zone" is caused when excessive nutrients - including nitrogen and phosphorous - trigger paid growth of algae. When the algae die and decompose, dissolved oxygen levels plummet. The condition is known as "hypoxia." High nutrient levels cause similar problems in rivers throughout the Midwest - threatening water quality and wildlife habitat. Existing conservation programs, such as the Conservation Reserve Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, provide farmers with the resources needed to install buffer strips and protect highly erodable land, protecting water quality locally and abroad. Demand for these programs is high. Last year, Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) led 40 members of Congress in support of legislation to reduce polluted runoff in the Upper Mississippi River Basin - a major source of the nutrients reaching the Gulf. The Upper Mississippi River Conservation Act of 2000 is "a model for other basins draining into the Gulf," said Jeff Stein of American Rivers. The bill would boost landowner assistance programs, create a regional water quality monitoring network to target new funds, and create a stakeholder advisory group to establish goals and improve coordination in the five-state basin. Stein also called for greater federal funds for floodplain habitat restoration, including funds to buy floodplain land from willing sellers. (American Rivers press release 01/19/01)
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NORTH UMPQUA RIVER: PacifiCorp has agreed to modify Soda Springs Dam on the North Umpqua River to make it accessible to spawning chinook, coho and steelhead, reports the AP (01/24/01). The utility has been trying to renew the dam's operating license, which expired in 1997, for the last ten years. The agreement released this week by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife does not indicate whether fish ladders would be added or if Soda Springs Dam would be removed to make the seven-mile stretch of the stream accessible. Instead, PacifiCorp is proposing to allow five dams to continue to block fish passage in exchange for a package of other measures including reconnecting the Clearwater River to the North Umpqua River that would improve conditions for fish. "It is the first Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relicensing on national forest land in Oregon since passage, in 1994, of the Northwest Forest Plan," says the AP.
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ARNOLD RIVER: Utility company Trustpower has proposed diverting two-thirds of the Arnold River on the West Coast down a canal to a new 60 megawatt power station at Dobson. Kayakers oppose the proposal, saying that the best part of the river for kayaking, a 3km stretch from the old power station to Maori Gully Road, is just below the proposed diversion. The proposal is subject to resource consents and a land swap with the Department of Conservation, says the Press (01/24/01).
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ROUGE RIVER: The EPA has ordered Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, MI, to protect migratory birds, fish and wildlife from oil waste found in the Rouge River boat slip adjacent to its property in the Rouge Manufacturing Complex. Upon inspecting the property on June 2, 2000, the EPA found oily waste, more than two dozen dead fish and a dead migratory bird in the Rouge River boat slip, reports PRNewswire (01/24/01). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Coast Guard also inspected the site four months later and confirmed that migratory birds, fish and wildlife were being exposed to oil waste used by Ford in the boat slip.
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LOS ANGELES RIVER: California state officials have drafted a proposal to halt the flow of trash into the Los Angeles River and its tributaries over 10 years. If the proposal is accepted by the Regional Water Quality Control Board, cities within the watershed (including the Arroyo Seco, the Tujunga Wash and the Rio Hondo) will have to reduce the amount of litter coming out of their storm drains and channels by 10% every year, until the river system is entirely trash-free, reports the Los Angeles Times (01/22/01). Cities in the area oppose the proposal, saying that they will have to beef up enforcement of litter laws, increase street sweeping and install equipment to trap the trash before it goes into the river and flows to the ocean, or be fined or sued if plastic bags, cups and cigarette butts are found in the storm water system. They also say that the plan sets an unachievable goal that would cost hundreds of millions, and would open up taxpayers to third-party lawsuits for even small amounts of litter drifting down the channel, says Judith Wilson, director of Los Angeles' Bureau of Sanitation.
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GRAZING: The Center for Biological Diversity has threatened to file a suit against the US Forest Service, saying that four national forests in Arizona are failing to follow rules that aim to protect imperiled animals and fish from harm caused by cattle grazing. The suit will be filed if progress toward full implementation of the protective measures remains sluggish, says the group. "There's now, possibly, an illegal level of 'take' happening because they (Forest Service officials) are not doing what's needed to sufficiently monitor and control livestock," says Martin Taylor, coordinator for the center's Grazing Reform Program. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists agreed that "takes" were likely occurring on several allotments four years ago when the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Forest Service in an effort to halt environmental damage. A "take" concerns incidental harassment, injury or death of a species, says the Arizona Daily Star (01/2/01). Affected fish include the endangered Gila topminnow and razorback sucker, as well as the threatened loach minnow, spikedace, Little Colorado River spinedace and Sonoran chub.
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CHESAPEAKE BAY: The US Army Corps of Engineers has approved the dredging of four waterways in Baltimore and Anne Arundel counties in Maryland over the objections of the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA opposes the projects, fearing that valuable Chesapeake Bay grasses will be harmed. Joseph W. Westphal of the Corps disagrees, saying that the dredging projects might promote growth of the grasses and provide useful information about the effects of dredging on the grass beds. The dredging is necessary to clear and deepen the waterways, say supporters of the project. The EPA fears that the move sets a precedent for dredging the grasses which provide food for waterfowl and shelter for fish and crabs, reports the Baltimore Sun (01/23/01). Frog Mortar Creek, Chestnut Cove and Greyhound Cove in Baltimore County and Grays Creek in Anne Arundel will be dredged.
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ENERGY CRISIS: American Rivers this week warned that "sacrificing the environment won't solve the energy crisis." President George W. Bush in his first week in Washington has warned of a "huge energy crisis," threatened to invade the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drill for oil and gas, rejected calls to remove dams to save Pacific salmon, and told CNN, "If there's any environmental regulations that's preventing California from having a 100 percent max output at their plants, as I understand there may be, then we need to relax those regulations." By early February, the president's allies in Congress plan to introduce legislation to attack the Arctic Refuge - among other hasty measures that would give up too much, to get too little energy, too late.
In response, American Rivers President Rebecca R. Wodder issued the following statement: "President Bush has wasted no time in declaring that the 'energy crisis' warrants a rollback in environmental regulations. This is hasty, unwise, and unnecessary, and it's not what the American people voted for on Election Day. The short-term energy problems that California is experiencing are the fault of poor management and maintenance by the utility corporations themselves, combined with a failed state deregulation scheme. The new president should not try to blame those problems on citizens who want their environment protected, or imagine that rolling back environmental protections will solve them. (American Rivers press release 01/25/01).
To view Wodder's statements on removal of the Snake Dams and invading the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, please see www.americanrivers.org.
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MAINE RIVERS: This week members of all four of Maine's Indian tribes - the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Houlton Band of Maliseets and the Aroostook Band of Micmacs met with environmentalists from across the state for a "river summit" to figure ways to protect and restore the state's waterways. As reports the Portland Press Herald (01/24/01), it was the biggest, and perhaps the first, meeting of native and non-native people to address an environmental concern. "Tribes bring a unique viewpoint to any discussion of environmental matters - particularly discussions of how and why to clean up rivers," said former State Sen. Chellie Pingree, the keynote speaker and senior fellow at the Center for Policy Alternatives.
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RIO GRANDE AND SAN JUAN RIVERS: Forest Guardians, the Southwest Environmental Center and the Sierra Club filed suit this week in federal court in New Mexico saying that the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) administration of the National Flood Insurance Program facilitates and promotes development within floodplains that harms endangered fish and wildlife such as the Bald eagle, Southwestern willow flycatcher and the Rio Grande silvery minnow. "In exchange for adopting certain minimal land-use controls cities, counties and other local governments can participate in the NFIP and thereby provide flood insurance to private property owners in those communities," say the groups. Further, they say, FEMA has almost never complied with the National Environmental Policy Act or the Endangered Species Act by assessing the environmental effects of providing flood insurance on river ecosystems or by ensuring that the decision to provide flood insurance does not harm endangered species. This is the first lawsuit of its kind in the western United States, where substantial development and growth in urban and suburban areas continues with little to no analysis of its effects on the environment. (Forest Guardian press release 01/22/01)
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MERCURY: The Connecticut state Department of Environmental Protection has asked lawmakers to ban the sale of mercury thermometers, citing a growing health threat from mercury-tainted fish and dangers of spills from broken thermometers in homes, schools and industries. As reports the AP (01/25/01), "the proposed legislation also would require labeling of certain products that contain mercury, prohibit schools from buying or using mercury in bulk, and ban sales of novelty items that contain mercury, such as older versions of sneakers that light up." Though the amount of mercury in a thermometer is less than a gram, that is enough to contaminate a small lake, says the EPA.
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