http://www.commondreams.org/news2003/1017-04.htm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 17, 2003
11:40 AM
CONTACT: American Rivers
Nina Bell (503) 295-0490 nbell@advocates-nwea.org
Joan Mulhern (202) 667-4500, Ext. 223 jmulhern@earthjustice.org
David Moryc (503) 827-8648 dmoryc@americanrivers.org
http://www.amrivers.org/
EPA
Sounds Retreat From Cleaning up Polluted Water in Oregon
PORTLAND, OR - October
17 - New water quality standards proposed
by the federal government for the state of Oregon amount to a
retreat
on the national commitment to clean up polluted waters and would
effectively relieve more than 150 federal dams in Oregon from
their
Clean Water Act responsibilities, conservationists warned today.
On October 10th, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released
a draft of new standards required by a federal court order that
found EPA had wrongly approved State of Oregon standards that
failed
to protect threatened and endangered salmon from high water temperatures.
"Oregon has become
the first public battleground for the Bush
administration's plans to undermine the Clean Water Act across
the nation," said Joan Mulhern, Senior Legislative Counsel
for
Earthjustice. "EPA has been gearing up all year to weaken
the
Clean Water Act's key program for cleaning up unsafe levels of
water pollution and this is their opening salvo."
The proposed rule would
allow agencies operating federal dams
in Oregon to petition EPA to weaken water quality standards.
The receipt of a petition would require EPA to conduct a technical
review of whether fish could be protected if dams were left
in place and if EPA found that they could not, the rule would
require EPA to weaken the standards.
"By making the
process for weakening standards mandatory,
EPA is completely removing the policy choice of fully protecting
water quality and fish from the state of Oregon," said Nina
Bell,
Executive Director of Northwest Environmental Advocates, the
organization whose lawsuit led to the court order.
"The court ordered
EPA to make sure river temperatures were
safe for endangered species but instead, the Administration's
fixation with giving polluters a break has resulted in EPA's
creation of a giant loophole," she added.
"Weakening Clean
Water Act standards for federal dams is just
the starting point because the Bush administration is drafting
rules to gut the program Americans are counting on to clean up
water pollution that threatens public health, fish, and wildlife,"
according to Mulhern.
"All pollution
sources, including federal agencies, have spent
the last year clamoring for exemptions from clean water programs
and EPA is working on a proposal to let them off the hook.
People who want clean water should be alarmed by what the
Bush administration is doing."
EPA has not said how
many dams could be affected by its proposal
but it is believed there are 150 to 200 federal dams in Oregon.
EPA is also encouraging the operators of federal dams to come
forward in the next 30 days to show how their dams should be
exempted from compliance with the Clean Water Act without going
through the petition process.
"This Bush administration
backroom deal virtually exempts federal
dams from pollution standards and usurps the ability of the public
and the State of Oregon from making the important decision about
how clean their rivers and streams should be," said David
Moryc
of the Northwest Regional Office of American Rivers.
Dams cause water temperatures
to rise by capturing water in unshaded
reservoirs, slowing stream flows, and preventing water from cooling.
High temperatures cause disease, reproductive failure, and death
in cold-water fish such as salmon and steelhead. Oregon has
identified 12,102 miles of rivers and streams as impaired by high
temperatures and needing clean-up plans.
EPA is accepting public
comments on its proposal through
November 10th. Public hearings will be held on the draft
rule in Portland at the State Office Building on October 22nd,
in Eugene at the Eugene Public Library on the 23rd, and in Bend
at the Bend Community Center on the 24th.
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