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River News for the Week of February 16, 2001
SALMON: Lake Michigan salmon have been found with high levels of a common flame retardant linked to human neurological and immune system problems, says UW-Madison scientists. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs are concentrated in Lake Michigan salmon at some of the highest open-water levels in the world, according to tests. Long term exposure to PBDEs, which tend to bio-accumulate in people and animals, may result in cancer, liver damage and thyroid gland dysfunction. A three-year study will begin next month to determine how the PDBEs enter Lake Michigan, including analysis of area rivers as a possible source of direct discharge. The 21 salmon already studied were taken from the Kewaunee River and from Strawberry Creek, reports the Wisconsin State Journal (02/15/01). PBDEs are widely used in plastics, fabrics and carpeting.
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CHESAPEAKE BAY: A report has been released by the Chesapeake Bay Commission, a tri-state legislative panel that focuses on bay cleanup issues, and the Trust for Public Land, that shows the Chesapeake Bay region lost an area more than three times the size of the District of Columbia to sprawl each year in the mid-1990s. Further, an additional $1.8 billion over what is currently being spent on land conservation will be needed over the next decade for Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania to preserve enough land to help stem the flow of pollution into the bay and restore the watershed ecosystem. To fulfill an agreement signed by the states last year to preserve 20 percent of the watershed as open space, the states will have to protect about 1.1 million acres of land over the next 10 years, in addition to the 6.7 million acres that have already been preserved -- about 17.2 percent of the watershed, reports the Washington Post (02/12/01). The report suggests that Maryland, which has been developing more rapidly that the other states, should "create an income tax credit for donation of conservation land or easements, add incentives to help local governments develop their own conservation programs and consider supplemental bond issues to the state."
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TROUT: Trout Unlimited has threatened to sue the federal government in an effort to get the California golden trout, the California state fish, put on the endangered species list. The group is seeking endangered status for the fish, saying that the fish will become extinct, largely because of hybridization, or breeding with other species of trout, in its two native Sierra Nevada watersheds, reports the AP (02/09/01). The Fish and Wildlife Service has put a moratorium on new species listing which is expected to last until October 2002. The lawsuit by Trout Unlimited is seeking to have the agency respond to the petition to get the fish listed before then. ""We are operating under guidance that we can't take on any more work. Our workload is being completely lawsuit-driven, so we'll have to evaluate with our Washington office on when we'll get an opportunity to work on this," says Pat Foulk, a spokeswoman with the Fish and Wildlife Service. The golden trout is only found in the South Fork Kern River and in Golden Trout Creek, south of Sequoia National Park in the Sierra Nevada.
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ROUGE RIVER: More than a million gallons of sewage overflowed from a pumping station into the Rouge River in Michigan last weekend after a heavy rainfall. Wayne County environmental officials are now testing water from the lower Rouge River to determine if any health risks are present after the overflow, such as e-coli or other bacteria. As reports the Detroit News (02/15/01), a state law passed in June mandates that tests be conducted whenever there's a sewage overflow. Though area residents don't get their drinking water from the river, people fishing or playing in the river could face health risks if contamination is present.
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WATAUGA RIVER BASIN: Environmental officials in North Carolina are warning that the Watauga River Basin will lose its status as one of North Carolina's cleanest river basins if sediment from N.C. 105 is not prevented from running into the river. As reports the Greensboro News (02/15/01), the state recently dropped the rating of the water in the basin from excellent to good-fair because of runoff from the state highway near Foscoe, NC.
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NW SALMON: Members of the Northwest Power Planning Council are agreeing with a top Bonneville Power Administration official who is "urging regional planners to scrap salmon recovery efforts so the struggling power marketing agency can meet the region's electric needs without going bankrupt." As reports the Idaho Statesmen (02/14/01), members of the council are not prepared to sacrifice the salmon, but say that others beside federal representatives should be involved in setting priorities. "If Bonneville Power does not violate salmon protection guidelines, it certainly will not meet electricity demand at least once during February and March," says Pete Swartz, a council power analyst.
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CLEAR CREEK: The town of Golden, CO is filing to get set "instream" flows to maintain the viability of a new kayak course on Clear Creek in Colorado, known as a recreational right. "Though recognized as a valid right under Colorado water law, such recreational requests unnerve traditional water users such as farmers and cities, who need the water to feed the ever-increasing demand for home use," reports the Denver Post (02/12/01). Towns upstream from Golden oppose the city's proposal, saying that the move would impinge on their ability to get water rights for future needs. The Colorado Conservation Water Board is also not convinced that the amount of water Golden wants from the creek is the best use of the water. A proposal is currently being considered that would require cities wanting water rights to first get water board approval. Golden has responded by saying that the water board is making a power grab. The new kayak course brings in an estimated $4 million, says Golden, and has helped to spur a revitalization of an old-style downtown unheard of in Denver's suburbs. Golden and the water board will go to trial about the dispute in March.
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VIRGINIA WATERS: The recently released report "State of Our Rivers" says that based on state and federal data from 1993 to 1999, Virginia's rivers, streams, and bays often fail clean-water tests. Though five years ago the state said only 5 percent of its waters were polluted, the report says that the figure was grossly misleading and that Virginia's waters are in much worse shape. Runoff from farm fields, lawns and urban development is sending bacteria into the rivers, while other rivers have unidentified sources of pollution, says the Virginian-Pilot (02/12/01). Nearly five years and $130,000 was spent by the environmental group Friends of the Rivers of Virginia in compiling the report. The report can be acquired for free by phoning 1-(540) 343-3696.
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HUDSON RIVER: PCBs are not the only contamination plaguing the Hudson River. "Sediment cores taken from the southern end of the Thompson Island Pool -- a 5-mile stretch of the river where dredging is slated to occur almost bank to bank -- show that it contains not only PCBs, but high levels of lead and cadmium -- contaminants that have no connection to General Electric Co., which could ultimately be held responsible for the $460 million cleanup." As reports the Albany Times Union (02/15/01), it appears that the lead and cadmium detected in the river bottom are from the Hercules Inc. and Ciba-Geigy Inc. factory site in Queensbury. The EPA, which has been accused by GE for virtually ignoring the metals, is more concerned with PCBs which increase in concentration up the food chain in the fatty tissue of fish and other wildlife. According to data presented by Richard Bopp, an associate professor of earth and environmental science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, different contaminants that were tested for in fish tissue showed that PCB levels were indeed the only ones high enough to require regulatory action. Bopp also said that although PCBs are moving downstream, high levels are still buried, which would suggest dredging.
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COPPER RIVER: The Chugach Alaska Corporation has applied for permits for Cassandra Energy to drill for oil and gas in an area about 10,000 acres in size several miles east of the Copper River Delta. The Chugach Alaska Corporation (CAC) is an Alaska Natives' corporation established by the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. As reports Greenwire (02/14/01), the Forest Service is expected to grant those permits "because officials traditionally interpret the settlement reached by CAC and state and federal governments to mean the corporation has the right to drill a well capable of producing in "payable quantities" until Dec. 31, 2004," according to Rick Rogers, a CAC spokesman. Environmental groups are pushing for a wilderness designation in the Copper River Delta to keep the surrounding area from being developed. The Copper River Delta was listed among the nation's most endangered rivers in 2000 due to the threat posed by CAC. The river was listed in 2000 due to CAC's proposal to build a road across the Delta in order to log its 8,000-acre inholding 30 miles east of the Copper River. The road would sever hundreds of streams that feed into the Delta, many of which are critical salmon habitat, and could severely impair the environmental, aesthetic, and subsistence values of the area.
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