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NFC: Fw: [currents] RiverCurrents Online -- Week of January 28, 2000
River News for the Week of January 28, 2000
YELLOWSTONE RIVER: American Rivers this week announced a five year plan
to
protect the Yellowstone River in Montana as part of their “Voyage of
Recovery” campaign. The "Voyage of Recovery” campaign coincides with the
bicentennial of Lewis and Clark's Voyage of Discovery in 1804, and
focuses
on the restoration of those rivers navigated by Lewis and Clark almost
200
years ago. Clark navigated much of the Yellowstone in 1806 on his return
east from the Pacific Ocean, reports the Billings Gazette (1/27). The
campaign has a six-part strategy with the “centerpiece being the creation
of
a new easement program designed to discourage bank stabilization by
landowners.” Other goals of the campaign will be to work with landowners
and
government officials to facilitate fish passage over irrigation dams, to
protect riverside cottonwoods, and to promote better flood plain land use
planning. The Yellowstone was listed as one of the most endangered rivers
of
1999 due to bank stabilization projects.
* * *
NW SALMON RECOVERY: Clinton administration officials plan to meet next
week
with Indian tribal leaders from Oregon, Washington and Idaho to discuss
their ideas and plans to save the salmon of the Northwest. According to
the
USA Today (1/26), however, “tribal leaders are already accusing the
administration of foot-dragging and poor planning.” A spokesman for the
Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, a group supporting removal
of
the four federal dams on the Lower Snake River, says that with the year
2000 being an election year, VP Gore has nothing to gain by taking a
position on the issue. Besides representatives from four Indian tribes,
high-ranking officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the
National
Marine Fisheries Service, the Bonneville Power Administration and the
departments of Agriculture, Interior and Justice will also attend the
meeting. Environmental groups have not been invited to attend. Tribes
have a
special interest in the debate, since they have rights to the fish
through
treaties
dating to the 1850s. Some tribal leaders worry that their rights would be
breached by potential harvest restrictions imposed on the fall chinook
salmon.
In a related story, tribal leaders told federal officials this week that
they “will not meet 145-year-old treaty obligations until they restore
healthy salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest,” reports the AP (1/25). In
other words, treaty obligations will not be met through mere avoidance of
extinction and endangered species listings for salmon, but will require
that
the Columbia and Snake rivers be restored to the “robust, productive
fisheries that existed when the treaties were signed in 1855.”
* * *
MINING: New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson will approve federal regulators
forcing Molycorp's Questa mine site into a Superfund cleanup if an
agreement
is not reached this week between the mining company and the state on a
state-regulated cleanup. As reports the Albuquerque Journal (1/25), the
governor’s administration had not taken a public stand on the
consequences
of failed negotiations with Molycorp, whose mine near Taos is leaking
acid
and metals into the Red River. Molycorp claims the contamination in the
river stems from natural processes. Johnson would like the state
Environment
Department to work out a state-regulated cleanup, which is much cheaper
and
quicker than one overseen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
However, if Molycorp and the state fail to reach an agreement by Feb. 19,
Johnson will support the EPA in proposing the site for the National
Priority
List, or Superfund.
* * *
ATLANTIC SALMON: The Natural Resources Council of Maine and the Maine
Audubon Society this week announced their support for the federal
proposal
to list the Atlantic Salmon in the Northeast as an Endangered Species. As
reports the Bangor Daily News (1/26), the groups feel that such a listing
will not lead to more restrictions on logging and aquaculture, but will
instead allow the state to access more financial and scientific resources
to
protect the fish. The groups did not take this stand earlier because they
felt the state's salmon conservation plan had a chance of succeeding.
They’
ve since determined that the plan has neither the funding nor support
from
state officials to succeed.
* * *
SAVANNAH RIVER: After water drawdown tests of the Savannah River in
Florida
last week at the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam, a senior U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service biologist has determined that removal of the dam would
restore 15 miles of river to its original habitat and improve the
ecosystem
and fishing. A study last month determined that the dam required $7
million
in repairs, prompting the water drawdown tests to “simulate severe
drought
conditions and what would happen if the dam were dismantled.” As reports
the
Florida Times-Union (1/25), the river would benefit from removal of the
dam,
and fish such as striped bass would be able to travel farther upstream.
Residents along the river worry about property values and damage along
the
river banks when the river is dropped. Corps officials are currently
seeking
a sponsor to pay for dam renovations.
* * *
DELAWARE RIVER BASIN: The Delaware River Basin Commission this week
directed
its staff to come up with a numerical value for the river's ‘assimilative
capacity’ – the amount of toxic chemicals the river can absorb and still
meet health standards. As reports the Philadelphia Enquirer (1/27), the
Commission believes that amount has already been exceeded. In the next
year,
industries discharging chemicals into the water will be required to
measure
the amount they release, with the end goal being the establishment of
overall limits on the discharges and allocations for who gets to
discharge
how much. The chemicals under focus are tetrachloroethane (PCE) and
dichlorethane (DCE), both suspected carcinogens. Computer models put
together by Commission scientists show that “there may be half again as
much
PCE as is safe already in the water between Trenton and Philadelphia, and
possibly double the amount of DCE.” Industry and others dispute the
models.
* * *
NEW JERSEY’S PINELANDS: A new five-year study proves that “suburban
sprawl
and farming in Camden, Burlington and Atlantic Counties have brought
pollution and fertilizers in doses so large that the water quality has
changed in some Pinelands streams and rivers,” reports the Philadelphia
Enquirer (1/27). The Pinelands is an area of pine trees, bogs and black
satin rivers that comprises 22 percent of New Jersey. Historically the
highly acidic waterways and nutrient-poor soils would not support the
existence of certain frogs, fish and vegetation, but water quality has
since
changed so much in the area from the results of agriculture and
development
that the flourishing of nonnative plants and animals are worrying
ecologists. Bullfrogs, black crappie, yellow perch and largemouth bass
are
now thriving in the area where nitrates have enriched the soil, feeding
many
nonnative plants, and lowered the acidity in water, allowing nonnative
fish
to flourish.
* * *
OKLAHOMA AGRICULTURE: Labeled "a corporate polluter's dream bill," a bill
presented this week in an Oklahoma House committee would “grant farmers
and
industry immunity from prosecution as long as they have a pollution-
control
plan and keep records.” As reports the Oklahoman Online (1/26), House
Bill
2137 is designed to protect Oklahoma's waterways by giving farmers and
ranchers a certain amount of legal protection, according to author
Raymond
McCarter. Opposition to the bill has stated that it “guts the current
water
quality laws that we have and gives a license to pollute to the farm
group.”
The bill was written by the Farm Bureau of Oklahoma, whose spokesman,
Jeremy
Rich, says that “producers need to know that if they're doing everything
possible, the state -- rather than be punitive -- needs to encourage them
to
find the best available technology and use it." State Rep. Mike
Thornbrugh
says the bill "doesn't pass the sniff test."
==================
Interested in Legislative Policy Updates? Email Suzy McDowell at
smcdowell at amrivers_org with your name, address with nine-digit zip code,
and
email to be placed on the weekly river policy update listserve.
American Rivers is also involved in a campaign to reform operations by
the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restore habitat for river wildlife and
reduce future flood losses. To receive periodic updates on this activity,
email Suzy McDowell at smcdowell at amrivers_org with your name, address
with
nine-digit zip code, and email address.
==================
For more news, visit American Rivers at www.amrivers.org