River News for the Week of November 24, 2000
AGRICULTURAL WASTE: Companies that buy hogs from farmers contribute to the problem of foul-smelling waste lagoons and should not shirk helping to finance alternate technology to handle hog wastes, says Environmental Defense. As reports the AP (11/22), the statement is based on a report by the group, which studied alternate technology and pork company finances before determining that the processing industry is able to finance the expense. The pork industry called the findings premature.
Waste from major hog farms are typically mixed with water and sent to ponds called lagoons. After natural processes break down the waste, the liquid is removed and the rest is used as fertilizers on fields. Critics of lagoon systems say the smell permeates nearby areas and great damage is caused to local waterways when lagoons burst. Changing from lagoons to new technology would cost an average of 2 cents to 3 cents per pound of pork, estimates Environmental Defense.
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ENDANGERED SPECIES: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it will not add any more wildlife to the endangered species list for almost a year since it is too busy responding to lawsuits filed by environmental groups and cannot afford the employees or other costs affiliated with adding new species. 25 species are currently being considered, but will now have to wait until after September 30, 2001. Exceptions will be made for species in imminent danger of becoming extinct, says the agency. As reports the AP (11/22), "the Fish and Wildlife Service is swamped by lawsuits from environmental groups asking the agency to designate critical habitat for some of the 1,225 species in the United States already listed as threatened or endangered." Environmentalists say the agency is playing "politics," and that "the loser is America's endangered wildlife."
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SNAKE RIVER DAMS: U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo (R) of Idaho has asked federal authorities to delay a final decision on salmon protection during a field hearing in Boise. Claiming that the agency needs time to seek consensus with the four Northwest states and tribes, Crapo says that he is "offended that the federal agencies are not doing everything possible to organize people and their knowledge in a systematic effort to get this right," reports the Idaho Statesman (11/21). The final decision on the biological opinion is scheduled for Dec. 15, which is a full year later the deadline set by U.S. District Court Judge Malcolm Marsh in 1995. Currently, the federal plan calls for revisiting the decision on breaching dams in five and eight years if salmon populations don't improve markedly. The suggested delay would push the decision into the next administration, where Gore supports breaching the dams, and Bush does not.
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MILL CREEK: DREDGING VS RIVER RESTORATION: The Mill Creek Volunteer Monitoring Project has just released its first annual report which compares dredging and river restoration on separate segments of the same river in St. Clair County, Michigan. A ten year controversy over an expensive dredging of 17 miles of Mill Creek resulted in a compromise that the two methods would be compared before a final determination to dredge to uniform widths, slopes and grades was made. The first-year results are in. The river restoration conducted by George Palmiter produced equal or better water velocity and comparable volumes while avoiding erosion, increased algal growth and degradation of the aquatic habitat. Although Mr. Palmiter pioneered restoration techniques in the 1970's, Michigan has been slow to adopt what other parts of the country have realized is a far less costly and much more environmentally friendly method of maintaining open drains.
The report's conclusions come in time for the legislature to consider as it votes on a "Drain Code," the agriculturally based policy of managing storm and sewer water. Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality takes a hands off approach to drains, even if they are natural rivers. Instead, the Department of Agriculture is the arbiter of the conversion of rivers to drains. The legislation MDA is advocating lacks environmental safeguards. Additionally it lacks the affirmative duty of county elected drain commissioners to protect water quality. Without these additions, the state policy will likely accelerate the degradation of rivers in the face of spreading development. (Credit: The Mill Creek Volunteer Monitoring Project)
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TRINITY RIVER: The Interior Department has released a report following years of study on the Trinity River in California, that would sharply reduce the amount of water flowing out of the river into the Central Valley. As reports the Contra Costa Times (11/18), this plan would likely have a sharp impact on farming and electrical power, resulting in about 26 percent more water staying in the river to protect fish and wildlife and sustain the economies of local Indian tribes. The Trinity River flows from the Trinity Alps region west to join the Klamath River and supplies about a fourth of the Central Valley Project's electrical power and perhaps a seventh of its water. Farmers say the economy would be crippled if the flow into the Central Valley is reduced, while environmentalists believe wildlife needs as much water in the river as possible. Currently, about three-fourths of the Trinity's water is diverted to the south. The plan by the Interior Department says its "preferred alternative" has 48 percent of the water staying up north, and 52 percent flowing south. Tina Andolina of the Friends of the Trinity is optimistic about the plan, but worries about where the funding will come from to ensure that the new water actually improves the fisheries.
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MISSISSIPPI RIVER BASIN: Alcoa Warrick Operations, a company that makes aluminum sheet used in food and beverage containers, has agreed to pay $8.8 million as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over pollution at its operations. Under the settlement, Alcoa will pay a $2.4 million penalty, at least $5.4 million on a project to reduce the plant's generation of hazardous waste, and another $1 million for a study of new air-pollution reduction technology as part of a federal effort to clean up the Mississippi River basin, including the Ohio River. The company will also be required to treat Warrick Operations' wastewater with the plant's new $5 million wastewater treatment system, using money not already included in the settlement figure, reports the Evansville Courier & Press (11/22).
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NW SALMON: The Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho is optimistic that the fisheries practice "supplementation" can boost wild runs of coho and chinook salmon with hatchery-reared fish. Supplementation refers to releasing hatchery-raised fish as juveniles into rivers. According to the theory, the fish will return then as adults and spawn -- and hatchery fish offspring that spawn in the wild would qualify as natives, growing more wild with each passing generation, says the tribe. So far, the practice seems to have worked, as coho salmon continue to return to their native waters, something that extinct fish are not supposed to do, reports the Idaho Statesman (11/21).
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COLUMBIA RIVER: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has found highly toxic PCBs in electrical equipment dumped in the Columbia River beside an abandoned agency landfill at Bonneville Dam, reports the Portland Oregonian (11/22). Officials are still trying to understand the scale of the problem, but say the equipment seems to have been in the water for 30 years or more, and likely came from the Bonneville Dam. It's unclear if substantial quantities of the PCBs have leaked into the river, or if they have harmed wildlife. The equipment was found last month by workers cleaning up the Bradford Island landfill. Preliminary results from four out of six samples sent to a lab have been contaminated with PCBs.
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UPPER POTOMAC RIVER: The American Canoe Association is threatening to sue if the Maryland Department of the Environment does not impose limits on Westvaco Corp.'s pulp and paper mill stringent enough to clear up the Upper Potomac River. Sour odors and industrial waste from the mill turn the river the color of chocolate milk for miles downstream, and state regulations dictate that no discharge should discolor the water, says the association. The 112-year-old paper mill is operating on a 10-year-old wastewater permit that expired five years ago, reports the Baltimore Sun (11/22). According to the Sun, about 30 large industries and municipal sewage treatment plants are also operating with outdate permits because regulators can't decide what new pollution limits to impose. Now due to pressure from canoeists and environmentalists, state and federal regulators are trying to determine potentially costly new pollution limits for the paper mill and its associated wastewater treatment plant. Already this year, the state has fined Westvaco and the treatment plant $450,000 for discharging potentially unhealthful levels of fecal coliform bacteria into the river. The mill has now corrected that problem, and says that it will spend $2.7 million over the next few years to ensure it does not occur again. It is also willing to spend $5.7 million to reduce - but not eliminate - the discoloring wastes from its mill that are discoloring the river.
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SNAKE RIVER DAM TV COVERAGE: This Sunday evening, the CBS news program "60 Minutes" will cover the debate over the Snake River dams. As reports the Spokesman Review (11/21), viewers will see a segment about the dams and salmon, featuring interviews with a variety of Northwest politicians, activists and scientists. According to the Review, CBS has spent about six months investigating the Northwest's efforts to restore salmon.
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