[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

NFC: Fw: [currents] RiverCurrents for the Week of April 21, 2000





 *************************


Save the Rivers of Lewis & Clark!
Until May 5th, Author Stephen Ambrose and Working Assets will match your
donation!
Click here to learn more, http://www.giveforchange.com

 *************************



 River News for the Week of April 21, 2000


OREGON CUTTHROAT: The Umpqua sea run cutthroat trout was removed this
week
from the endangered species list by the National Marine Fisheries Service
after the agency decided that the fish is not a separate species from the
larger population. The fish was originally listed as endangered in August
of
1996 when biologists became concerned that the run's numbers were
dangerously low and that it was genetically different from other
cutthroat
populations.  Subsequently, trout fishing was stopped in the rivers and
streams of the Umpqua Basin because the same gear used to catch rainbow
trout also attracts cutthroat. In a 1998 review of the listing, however,
a
new study determined that the fish was part of the larger population that
ranges from the Columbia River south to Cape Blanco on the Oregon Coast,
reports the AP (4/17). The delisting becomes official after the US Fish
and
Wildlife Service concurs with the NMFS decision.

     *     *     *

MINING: The Justice Department this week announced their agreement with
parts of the ruling made by Chief Judge Charles H. Haden II of U.S.
District
Court in Charleston, W.Va., which determined that the practice of
mountain
top removal mining violates the Clean Water Act. As reports the
Washington
Post (4/18), “the administration agreed with parts of the judge's ruling,
including portions that could apply greater environmental scrutiny to
mountaintop mining operations, but disagreed that the procedure should be
curtailed entirely.” The administration also argued that the process
should
remain under the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers, whose
program
addresses the placement of fill into waterways, as opposed to the
Environmental Protection Agency.  The practice of mountain top removal
mining was determined to violate federal environmental laws because the
waste generated from blasted mountain tops often ends up in nearby
waterways, disturbing water flow. In response to the brief, the EPA and
Corps are proposing to amend sections of the Clean Water Act to clarify
that
rock and dirt from surface mining is "fill."  The Coal River in West
Virginia was listed as one of the nation’s most endangered rivers of 2000
due to the threat from mountain top removal mining.

     *     *     *

SHAD AND DAM REMOVAL: After ninety years, more than a million migratory
fish
might be able to swim up the Rappahannock River past Fredericksburg, WV,
within the next three years. As reports the Richmond-Times Dispatch
(4/22),
local, state and federal officials announced that they hope to remove the
Embrey Dam on the river starting in 2002, with a goal of completing its
removal in time for the shad to complete their annual spawning run from
the
Chesapeake Bay the following year. The dam was originally constructed as
a
source of hydroelectric power. It no longer performs that function, nor
does
it supply drinking water since a new water intake was built farther
upstream. Congress has authorized $10 million for the demolition project,
while other local and state agencies have foot the bill for the
preparatory
work. After the announcement, shad were netted and politicians and others
donned life jackets and formed a human chain to pass the fish in buckets
around the side of the dam, to be released upstream.

     *     *     *

PACIFIC SALMON: The Washington State Department of Ecology is asking
housing
developers in the state to obtain a water permit to protect groundwater
sources that feed salmon-laden streams, reports the AP (4/17). Housing
projects have historically been exempt from a law requiring anyone who
draws
5,000 gallons of water daily from surface or groundwater sources to get a
permit, since it is thought they use relatively little water. However,
since
groundwater is such an important source of water for small waterways, the
Department is asking that large housing projects no longer receive that
exemption. Executive Director of the Lower Columbia Contractors
Association,
Dave Roewe, says the move is an “effort by big government to wrest
control
over groundwater that would hurt land owners' rights.”

     *     *     *

WHITE RIVER: State investigators are expected to file a civil lawsuit
against Guide Corp. in connection with the massive White River fish kill,
reports the Indianapolis Star (4/21). Claiming the company excessively
and
improperly employed the chemical sodium dimethyldithiocarbamate to remove
metals from wastewater, investigators are planning to bring the civil
case
next week. Investigators believe that the chemical disrupted the city of
Anderson's sewage treatment plant, forcing a gush of toxic foam into the
river and killing at least 117 tons of fish in mid-December. The
pollution
traveled 50 miles through three counties.

     *     *     *

TONGUE RIVER: The Northern Plains Resource Council this week said that it
may sue over what it claims are illegal discharges of water into the
Tongue
River in Montana from coal bed methane drilling. NPRC told the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency and the Montana Department of
Environmental
Quality that its suit would be based on the failure of the agencies to
require discharge permits and to take enforcement action against Redstone
Gas Partners, a Denver, CO based company which is operating more than 140
wells in the area. An unknown number of those wells are discharging into
the
Tongue River and its tributary, Squirrel Creek. Montana Department of
Environmental Quality Director Mark Simonich said the company is drilling
based on exemptions from permitting made possible by Montana law, reports
the Billings Gazette (4/20).

     *     *     *

COAL RIVER: The Coal River in West Virginia is again in the news as the
US
Army Corps of Engineers pushes to continue with construction of a dam on
the
river to provide the Elk Run preparation plant with an additional water
supply. The A.T. Massey Coal Co. started to build a dam on the Coal River
last month, but was forced to stop when State Division of Environmental
Protection inspectors halted the construction due to lack of proper
permits.
Though the Corps is pushing for the project to proceed, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service says it violates federal water protection rules, and
should
be stopped. The Coal River was listed as the 6th Most Endangered River in
the nation this year due to the threat posed by the dam and mountain top
removal mining.

     *     *     *

LOWER SNAKE RIVER DAM REMOVAL: The Administration seems to be stalling on
the decision of whether or not to breach the four Lower Snake River dams,
reports the Seattle Post Intelligencer (4/20). Interior Secretary Bruce
Babbitt told Washington Senator Slade Gorton earlier this month that the
decision on whether to restore Southeast Washington's Snake River by
disabling four dams "will not -- and should not -- be made on my watch,"
And
now this week, the National Marine Fisheries Service echoed that
sentiment
by saying that it will not make a recommendation in late spring, as
promised. The Corps, too, has said that postponing the decision until
after
the election is a distinct possibility – but that it promises a tentative
recommendation in the October-November timeframe, which could occur after
Gore faces Bush on November 7th, 2000.


 ==================

To add yourself to American Rivers listserves for River Policy Updates,
Corps Reform, Snake River alerts, and action alerts on other issues,
please
visit <a href=http://www.actionnetwork.org/home.tcl?domain=AMRIVERS> and
register. Thank you for your interest in rivers!

 ==================

 For more news and information about American Rivers, visit us at
www.americanrivers.org



________________________________________________________________
YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
Try it today - there's no risk!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.