Thursday, June 23, 2011
In January 2010, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) adopted a new set of rules to significantly reduce phosphorus pollution to Wisconsin waters. Phosphorus is nutrient that fertilizes the growth of algae and other obnoxious water plants. When these weeds die and decay, they consume oxygen, reducing the number and health of fish in Wisconsin waters.
The new criteria were developed by a collaboration of scientists, business leaders, landowners and environmental advocates who utilized almost 20 years worth of scientific data. The new rules set standards to control and limit phosphorus pollution, stating that Wisconsin rivers and lakes should have no more than 100 parts per billion (.1mg/L) phosphorus while streams should contain no more than 75 parts per billion (.075mg/L) phosphorus.
Permits for industrial and municipal polluters need to limit phosphorus pollution to keep within these limits. “Point sources” that discharge phosphorus must comply with these criteria.
Unfortunately, a number of Wisconsin legislators want to weaken these rules under the mistaken belief that clean water measures are an impediment to economic growth. Actually, Wisconsin’s economy capitalizes on our waterways and loses when we pollute those waters. Dirty lakes, streams and rivers reduce fish populations sought by sportsmen and vacationers, who can go elsewhere, hurting Wisconsin’s tourism industry. Dirty lakes reduce property values for lakefront homes. Subsistence fishers will find fewer fish to pull from dirtier waters.
We need Wisconsin Legislators to leave the new phosphorus rules alone. Increasing pollution to Wisconsin waters will not create more jobs or a better quality of life for Wisconsin residents. By maintaining these new rules we can help clean Wisconsin’s waters and improve the treasure of Wisconsin’s natural heritage. Click here to take action!
Friday, August 21, 2009
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) held a public meeting this week to discuss proposed water pollution rules for Lake Michigan. ELPC and the members of the public are worried that poorly crafted regulations could lead to a controversy similar to 2007, when BP was permitted to dump mercury into Lake Michigan.
ELPC is concerned, in particular, that the proposed rules don’t address nitrogen and phosphorus – pollutants that have created a huge dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and could have similar effects on Indiana waters. As ELPC Senior Attorney Albert Ettinger told the Post Tribune, “I don’t think these rules are acceptable because they’re going to exempt very important pollutants that will have a demonstrable effect on waters in Indiana.”
Read the full article in the Post Tribune
Monday, August 10, 2009
Two years ago, BP made headlines with its plans to expand its oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana and dump additional pollution into Lake Michigan. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management had issued a permit allowing the added pollution. When the public – and ELPC and our environmental colleagues – expressed outrage over the news, BP eventually announced that it would proceed with its plans without adding more pollution into the Lake. Since that time, Indiana’s water quality rules, which had allowed the increase in pollution, have still not been improved.
The state’s current anti-degradation rules could allow BP or another company to increase the amount of ammonia and silty materials it dumps into the lake without examining cleaner alternatives. ELPC Senior Attorney Albert Ettinger and Staff Attorney Brad Klein told the Indiana press about their concerns that another pollution controversy could emerge if the state doesn’t improve its clean water rules.
Read the full story in the Post-Tribune.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
ELPC Senior Attorney Albert Ettinger spoke to the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana about a bill that would allow increased nitrogen and phosphorus pollution to be dumped into Lake Michigan. Scientists believe that phosporus and nitrogen are responsible in part for large amounts of algae that wash up and rot on beaches in Wisconsin and Michigan.
Ettinger said that the bill, proposed by Indiana Senator Beverly Gard, would prevent the Indiana Department of Environmental Management from calculating the amount of pollution entering Indiana’s waters. The bill could also undermine attempts to improve impaired waters so they could be used for swimming or fishing.
Read the full story here
Thursday, October 30, 2008
According to ELPC Senior Attorney Albert Ettinger, “consideration of alternatives” must be key to new anti-degradation rules being reviewed in Indiana. Industries, environmentalists, municipalities and government officials are working together to clarify existing water rules in Indianapolis.
read the full article here
Monday, September 8, 2008
Court Ruling Will Push Kentucky to Enforce Clean Water Rules
ELPC gained a big victory last week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed and remanded the U.S. EPA’s approval of Kentucky’s flawed administrative rules in an opinion that will significantly affect state obligations to maintain and protect water quality under the Clean Water Act’s antidegradation policy that is designed to “keep clean waters clean.” ELPC attorneys represented Plaintiffs Kentucky Waterways Alliance, Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and Floyds Fork Environmental Association. Learn more.
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Monday, September 8, 2008
Thirty-five years after the federal Clean Water Act passed, most Midwestern states still have not adopted all of the water quality standards required by the Act. The consequence: polluted rivers and lakes that harm aquatic life and fail to achieve our quality of life goals. ELPC Senior Attorney Albert Ettinger and Staff Attorneys Jessica Dexter and Brad Klein are achieving slow, but steady, progress in advancing key nutrient, phosphorus and antidegradation standards in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Kentucky to help clean up the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
ELPC gained a big victory last week. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed and remanded the U.S. EPA’s approval of Kentucky’s flawed administrative rules in an opinion that will significantly affect state obligations to maintain and protect water quality under the Clean Water Act’s antidegradation policy that is designed to “keep clean waters clean.” ELPC attorneys represented plaintiffs Kentucky Waterways Alliance, Sierra Club Cumberland Chapter, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and Floyds Fork Environmental Association.
In summary, the Court found that the U.S. EPA’s approval was “arbitrary and capricious” because it did not require Kentucky to prove that the multiple exceptions contained in the proposed antidegradation rules would cause only insignificant, or “de minimis,” degradation of the state’s rivers, lakes and streams. Instead, the U.S. EPA merely accepted Kentucky’s unenforceable commitments to protect water quality, even though the plain language of state’s rules gave blanket exemptions to several categories of polluters, including the coal industry.
The Court’s opinion sends Kentucky’s rules back to the U.S. EPA for further review. Kentucky likely will have to significantly revise and improve its rules in order to comply with the Court’s decision. ELPC’s persistent legal and policy advocacy is important to improve water quality and protect our Midwest natural heritage.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
July 30, 2008 – ELPC and conservation groups from nine states bordering the Mississippi River petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, asking the agency to take concrete steps to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi River basin. Read the press release or petition.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Senior Staff Attorney Albert Ettinger testified before the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission about the need to revise Iowa’s antidegradation rules. Stronger rules would ensure that new pollution allowed into Iowa’s rivers, lakes and streams would not harm existing water bodies, in keeping with the social and economic goals of Iowans. Learn more here [pdf file].
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Evaluating Non-Point Source Pollution Programs
Advancing Anti-Degradation Standards
Developing Strong Water Quality Standards for Nutrients
Evaluating Non-Point Source Pollution Programs
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. ELPC worked with The Mississippi River Collaborative to evaluate each state’s efforts to reduce non-point source pollution, our report Cultivating Clean Water, collects these evaluations and recommends effective strategies that all states can adopt.
Advancing Anti-Degradation Standards
ELPC has worked extensively to implement and enforce the Clean Water Act’s important antidegradation requirements. These rules, intended to “keep clean water clean,” have been seriously underutilized by states in the Midwest. In 2002, ELPC persuaded Illinois to adopt antidegradation rules that are among the strongest in the nation, and persuaded Iowa to adopt similar rules in 2010. We are advocating for Indiana, Kentucky, and several other states to adopt similar rules. In September 2008, ELPC attorneys prevailed in a federal lawsuit challenging U.S. EPA for its approval of weak antidegradation standards in Kentucky. This case will provide important precedent for our efforts to promote strong antidegradation standards throughout the region.
Developing 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. ELPC’s advocacy persuaded Wisconsin’s Natural Resources Board to approve phosphorus standards in June 2010. 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.
