Beating Around the Bush
Two steps forward, one step back:
Public pressure has put the breaks
on two of the Bush administration’s
heinous attacks
on clean water…
1. Victory! Raw Sewage Policy
Dumped by EPA
In a victory for public health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has abandoned a rule that would have allowed raw sewage into our waterways. In November 2003, EPA proposed its controversial “blending” policy, which would have allowed sewage treatment plants to dump inadequately treated raw sewage into our lakes, rivers, streams and coastal waters during and after any storm event. Sewage makes people sick, contaminates shellfish, kills fish and causes beach closures. Fortunately, on May 20, Congress stood up for public health and safety and passed the “Save Our Waters From Sewage Act of 2005.” The bill eliminates funding for EPA’s misguided sewage blending plan. EPA saw the writing on the wall and backed down. Just hours before the House vote, and in the face of almost 10,000 public comments – and strong objections from state agencies, public health officials, shellfish growers and Congress – the Bush administration announced it was abandoning the policy.

2. Proposed “Buffer Zone” Rule
Rollback Delayed
In January 2004, the Bush administration proposed a rewrite of a long-standing environmental safeguard known as the “Buffer Zone” rule. Why the change? The administration wanted to allow coal-mining companies to bury streams with mountaintop removal mining wastes. In mountaintop removal, coal operators blast off entire hilltops to uncover coal seams. Leftover rock and dirt, the stuff that used to be the mountain, is dumped into nearby valleys, filling and destroying them.

The protective 20-year old “Buffer Zone” rule prohibits surface mining activities from disturbing land within 100 feet of a stream unless the disturbance will have “no adverse effect” on water quality or quantity – a standard that this mining practice cannot meet. The Bush administration’s proposal would have eliminated this 100-foot stream “buffer” from the rule, creating an exception that would allow the coal companies to dump rubble directly into streams.

Fortunately, at the relentless urging of environmental and citizen groups, the Bush administration recently announced a major reversal in policy: instead of simply scrapping the “Buffer Zone” rule they will now conduct a detailed environmental study. This study could delay the rule change for two years or more and, if properly conducted, will document the enormous damage that mountaintop removal mining causes to waterways and downstream communities.

3. EPA Allows Dumping of Mine
Waste to Lake
The Bush administration is permitting the Coeur Alaska, Inc. mining company to discharge treated wastewater from a gold mine into creeks and canals that flow into Alaska’s Berners Bay. Based on a policy paper issued by EPA headquarters last year that redefined hard rock mining wastes as “fill” material under the Clean Water Act, EPA Region 10 issued a permit to the company to dump its waste in the lake.

The bay is home to wildlife, including bears, humpback whale, moose, salmon and wolves – all of which would be threatened by higher levels of heavy metals from the mining wastewater. The company claims the gold mine will be environmentally friendly, despite the fact that most of the discharged chemicals are highly toxic. Runoff from the mine will contain arsenic, cadmium, copper, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel, selenium and zinc. The Bush administration’s irresponsible decision represents the first time in the history of the Clean Water Act that the federal government will allow mine waste to be dumped directly into a freshwater lake. The administration is sacrificing Alaska’s clean water for the short-term profits of a private corporation.