River News for the Week of November 3, 2000
WETLANDS: This week the Supreme Court listened to arguments to determine the US Army Corps of Engineers' legal authority to regulate construction in wetlands. As reports Greenwire (10/31), at issue is "whether the Constitution's Commerce Clause allows for federal intervention in wetlands in economic terms, and thus whether the corps' authority is valid under the Clean Water Act." An earlier decision on the case occurred in 1999 when the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Corps over the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County saying that the corps can regulate development on land where water is used by migratory birds. Under the Clean Water Act, the Corps can regulate development if migratory birds make the area into their habitat. The Corps feels confident it will again win its case with the Supreme Court. Among other findings by the Seventh Circuit Court was that 3.1 million Americans spent $1.3 billion in 1996 to hunt migratory birds and an additional 17.7 million people traveled beyond their home state to observe birds.
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LOS ANGELES RIVER: For two decades, industrial runoff water with dangerously high levels of chromium 6 was discharged into storm drains that flow to the Los Angeles River, reports the Los Angeles Times (10/30). Recently released city records show that "a route by which the large amounts of chromium 6 used by industry during the Cold War may have led to today's ground water contamination." During that time, manufacturers of the chemical allowed it to flow at toxic levels into the area's waters. Regulations to prevent the practice did not come into play until the mid-1960s. Chromium 6, which appeared in levels as high as 80,000 parts per billion, is suspected of causing cancer and other illnesses.
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OIL DRILLING: Officials with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality have asked their counterparts in Wyoming to consider further analyses before allowing additional coal bed methane wells to be built in that state. The request is an attempt to protect three rivers in the Powder River Basin -- the Powder River, the Little Powder and the Tongue River -- shared by both states. The rivers start in Wyoming and flow into Montana. As reports the Billings Gazette (10/27), 2,900 active wells are operating along the Wyoming side of the Powder River Basin, with another 11,235 well permits issued by Wyoming's DEQ. As many as 70,000 wells are possible by the year 2060. Only 170 wells are producing in Montana, and no additional wells will be allowed in that state until an environmental impact study is completed. Montana officials are suggesting that the states work together to protect water quality and that "a recent industry study suggesting Wyoming methane wells won't hurt water quality in Montana's rivers is inadequate and is based on faulty assumptions." Wyoming officials say they too suspect the study that was completed by industry officials. DEQ officials say that the study presumes that the quality of a stream is the same at the low flow as high flow, and that it doesn't consider the affect of new and existing salinity and sediments already in rivers.
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DREDGING: A new $1.3 million draft environmental impact study suggests that dredging has not harmed the mussels, fish or water quality in the Allegheny and Ohio rivers over the past century. Hundreds of millions of tons of sand and gravel have been dredged from the bottoms of the rivers in the past century, and continuing the practice is up for debate as federal and state dredging permits come up for renewal. The $35-million-a-year dredging industry paid for the study, which was presented this week at the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission's monthly meeting. According to David Clement, president of Pioneer Mid-Atlantic Inc., "this is the most comprehensive look at the dredging in the rivers that's been done and it has made us very confident that the industry can coexist with the environment." However, the Pennsylvania State Department of Environmental Protection criticizes the report for a "tendency to emphasize findings that support dredging while minimizing those that indicate dredging is damaging the river ecosystems and should be restricted or stopped." Pioneer, along with Tri-State River Products, Glacial Sand and Gravel Co. and The Lane Construction Co. all need new 10-year state permits by the end of the year to continue dredging the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. As reports the Pittsburgh Post Gazette (10/30), state and federal agency studies have indicated that endangered mussel and fish populations in several Allegheny River pools have been harmed by dredging, and that deep holes in the rivers' bottoms created by dredgers were lacking enough oxygen to sustain aquatic life. The new industry study says those findings are wrong, and that while mussel populations have declined, it is "impossible to put the finger on dredging as the sole cause." A final draft of the environmental impact study won't be ready for public comment until the end of this year or early in 2001.
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OREGON FISH: A new study released last week shows that deformed fish found for years in a stretch of the Willamette River in Oregon were damaged by something in the water, not by genetic defects as had previously been believed, reports Planet Ark (10/30). The study conducted by EVS Environment Consultants says that the culprit could be a variety of things, including chemicals, bacteria, parasites, high river temperature, or low oxygen levels. Scientists were shocked by the findings and are working to determine the exact cause of the problem, as well as whether there are health risks associated with eating the deformed fish found in the stretch of the Willamette between Newberg and Oregon City.
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SNAKE RIVER: The flow of the Snake River below American Falls Reservoir in Idaho has been reduced to a trickle, reports the Idaho Statesman (10/31). Reduction of the dam's flow from 1,150 cubic feet per second to 350 by the US Bureau of Reclamation is further damaging the fishery after a hot summer, say environmentalists. A Bureau water manager says saving the water is imperative since the irrigation season "all but drained the state's largest man-made lake." The Bureau tries not to lower the river level until the fishing season closes, but this year the lake was drained to 6 percent of its storage capacity. The Idaho Fish and Game Department says the river will not be able to support all the fish that are residing in that stretch of the channel.
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YELLOWSTONE RIVER: Last week a coalition of conservation districts and other groups outlined a proposal to state and federal agencies to conserve the Yellowstone River -- the longest free-flowing river in the lower 48 states. As reports the Billings Gazette (10/27), the proposal, which was presented during the Yellowstone River Roundtable, asks federal and state agencies to recognize the Yellowstone River as a priority in their projects, to endorse the proposed resource advisory committee as an appropriate way to involve stakeholders, to support programs to maintain and restore the river, to improve fisheries and water quality and to help revitalize community riverfronts. The Yellowstone River Conservation District Council sponsored the event, and is composed of 11 conservation districts along the river; the Yellowstone River Forum, a Billings-based coalition of about 20 conservation organizations; American Rivers; and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.
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TRINITY RIVER: Within the next few weeks, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt will determine how much water to return to the Trinity River in California, which is relied on by fisheries and economies in Northern California and Southern Oregon. Since Trinity Dam was completed in 1963, up to 90 percent of the Trinity River's water has been diverted for agriculture, principally to the western San Joaquin Valley. As a result of decreased flows, fish populations declined by more than 90 percent by the early 1990s. The Final Trinity River Mainstem Fishery Restoration Environmental Impact Statement/Report has been released to the public, calling for a Preferred Alternative that would allow most of the Trinity's water to be diverted. Environmentalists, however, are pushing for the Maximum Flow Alternative. For more information and to find out how you can help, please visit Friends of the River at: http://www.fotr.org
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ALAMOSA RIVER: Water conditions in the Alamosa River have improved so much that rainbow trout actually could survive again in the river, reports the Pueblo Chieftain (11/1). According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Terrace Reservoir Caged-fish Bioassay conducted last week as part of the Summitville Superfund site remedial investigation and feasibility study shows that the clean-up methods being used at the Summitville Mine site are working and the contamination of the Alamosa River caused by open pit/cyanide leach gold mining operations at Summitville is beginning to be reversed. Cleanup of the area has been going on since 1992, led by the state health department and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A trial stocking of fish may take place in the Terrace Reservoir in the near future due to the results of the study.
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HUDSON RIVER: A report released by Scenic Hudson this week indicates that dredging is the most likely remedy for PCB contamination in the Hudson River. As reports the Times Union (11/3), the study was based on 89 completed, ongoing, and proposed cleanups at contaminated sites nationwide. Dredging or wet excavation was used in 72 percent of cases considered and reduced the amount of PCBs and other pollutants in sediment and fish. The US Environmental Protection Agency is investigating several cleanup strategies for the river, although dredging is a "top contender based on previous practice." General Electric, which released 1.3 million pounds of PCBs from its Fort Edward and Hudson Falls capacitor plants over three decades into the Hudson River, has argued that dredging is ineffective and in some cases increases PCBs in sediment. The EPA will announce a cleanup method in mid-December.
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AGRICULTURE: A federal judge has ordered the Central Industries poultry plant to pay $14 million for discharging slaughterhouse waste into a creek that supplies drinking water to the city of Jackson, Mississippi. The company consistently violated wastewater standards from the 1970s until the mid-1990s by sending waste from the plant into the Shockaloe Creek, a tributary of the Pearl River and central Mississippi water supply. The fine levied by the judge is the fifth-largest ever against water polluters, reports the AP (11/3). $13 million of the total is for criminal fines, and the additional $1 million is in restitution to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.
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ENDANGERED SPECIES: More than 80 species of North American fish are in danger of extinction, finds a new study published in the current issue of Fisheries, a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Fisheries Society. 82 species of marine and estuarine fish living in the waters off Canada, the United States and Mexico are identified as being in danger of extinction primarily from overfishing, followed by habitat destruction and pollution. As reports the San Francisco Chronicle (11/3), "the report has special significance for California, which supports one of the richest and most biologically diverse marine fisheries in the world." In response to the study, environmentalists are urging the creation of an extensive marine refuge system where fishing would be permanently banned.
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