Protecting clean water in the Midwest

Here are some of ELPC’s key Midwest clean water initiatives:

Iowa Water Quality Standards and Permitting

For the past several years, ELPC has been working with our colleagues and partners in Iowa (including the Iowa Environmental Council, Sierra Club, and the Hawkeye Fly Fishing Association) to enforce the Clean Water Act and improve the quality of Iowa’s rivers, lakes and streams. Although we have made significant improvements, there is much work to be done.  In general, Iowa does not begin to implement the Clean Water Act properly and regularly issues permits that are not protective of Iowa recreation, aquatic life or downstream waters. Working with the Iowa Environmental Council, Sierra Club and Hawkeye Flyfishing Council, we have begun to take action against the three biggest problems in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources program.

Antidegradation Standards

ELPC has worked extensively to implement and enforce the Clean Water Act’s important anti degradation requirements. These rules, intended to “keep clean water clean,” have been seriously underutilized by states in the Midwest. In 2006, ELPC persuaded Illinois to adopt anti degradation rules that are among the strongest in the nation. We are now working with partners in Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, and several other states to adopt similarly strong rules. In September 2008, ELPC attorneys prevailed in a federal lawsuit challenging U.S. EPA for its approval of weak anti degradation standards in Kentucky. This case will provide important precedent for our efforts to promote strong anti degradation standards throughout the region.

Working to Develop Strong Water Quality Standards for Nutrients

Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are causing major water quality problems in the Midwest and a “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. These pollutants come primarily fertilizer and other agricultural runoff as well as wastewater treatment plants that discharge into our rivers. ELPC has worked at the federal, regional and state level to develop protective numeric nutrient standards for the Mississippi River basin. Working with the Clean Water Network and NRDC, we have written and met with U.S. EPA headquarters regarding phosphorus controls that could be established immediately and urged U.S. EPA to work more aggressively to cause adoption of nitrogen standards to protect the Gulf of Mexico.

Evaluating State Non-Point Source Pollution Programs throughout the Midwest

Although the Clean Water Act does an adequate job regulating individual “point-sources” of pollution (e.g. discharges from sewage treatment plants and industry), it does not cover agricultural runoff and other “non-point” discharges. While every state in the Midwest has at least some non-point pollution control programs, the details and effectiveness of such participation varies by state. Therefore, ELPC is working to evaluate each state’s effort at addressing non-point source pollution, with the goal of identifying and recommending the most effective strategies.

Preventing Environmentally Destructive Development

In 2008, ELPC finally prevailed in its long fight to prevent the building of a dam on Sugar Creek near Marion, Illinois. This project would have destroyed one of the last free flowing streams in Illinois, threatened two Illinois endangered species that live in Sugar Creek and inundated 1,172 acres of forests, farms and wetlands. The project was also unnecessary, as existing water sources in the area could adequately satisfy Marion’s needs.

ELPC, the Sierra Club, and other organizations have been working to challenge an application for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) to re-license the Dayton Dam on the Fox River in Illinois. The Dayton Dam is the first dam on the River, located just 5.6 miles from Fox River’s confluence with the Illinois River. As such, the Dam serves as an ecological barrier to the passage of at least 10 species of fish into potentially valuable spawning and nursery habitat. In addition, the operation of the Dam serves to degrade water quality and dewater a 900-foot long bypass reach. In a series of comments, ELPC has recommended that the Dam be removed or that any re-licensing of the Dam be conditioned on the installation of facilities that would allow for the passage of fish and American eels and on a guarantee of a minimum stream flow in the bypass reach.
We are also working to have unnecessary dams removed from the Fox River, the Du Page River and other Illinois waters. Further, by reviewing and commenting on draft Section 404 permits for stream channelization projects, we have prevented the destruction of natural stream corridors.

Illinois Water Quality Standards

The most recent Illinois Environmental Protection Agency report on Illinois waters disclosed that 46% of the stream miles and almost 70% of the lake acres in Illinois do not meet the “fishable and swimmable” goals of the Clean Water Act. Many unpolluted waterways are threatened by urban sprawl, excessive use of fertilizer, sewage treatment plants, run off from roads and construction sites, or large hog operations.

ELPC continues to intervene in the Illinois Pollution Control Board’s standard-setting proceedings on phosphorous and other polluting nutrients and toxins from sources such as sewage treatment plants, hog farms, fertilizers, and pesticides. We are also working to persuade the U.S. EPA and Illinois EPA to develop watershed plans and effective non-point pollution controls. Finally, we have been monitoring Illinois’ program for controlling run off and storm water discharges from construction sites, livestock operations and other sources of polluted run off.