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!

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

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.

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

read the full article here

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.

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.

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.