Ripples
Courts Uphold Los Angeles and San Diego Stormwater Permits
Los Angeles and San Diego must comply with strong permits to clean up urban runoff, so say California courts in two major decisions released this March. These permits require many new cleanup measures to combat the number one cause of coastal pollution in Southern California. Those measures must now be implemented, and the plan’s new results-oriented approach means that Southern California’s water actually must get cleaner.

Capping off years of debate in San Diego, the California Supreme Court refused to disturb a Court of Appeal’s decision that regulators can require compliance with California’s water quality standards, which set purity thresholds for polluted runoff. Shortly thereafter, a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge rejected the most extensive legal challenge ever filed against a polluted stormwater cleanup plan in California. The Los Angeles ruling came after a lengthy trial in which the court considered five consolidated lawsuits brought two years ago by a coalition of dozens of cities and developers. They have asked the court to re-hear the case.

Both San Diego Baykeeper and Santa Monica Baykeeper worked for years with partner Natural Resources Defense Council to ensure strong permits in both metropolitan areas.

“These decisions are among the most important water pollution cases ever to be decided in California,” said David Beckman, a senior attorney at NRDC and lead counsel for conservation groups that intervened in the cases. “These decisions say it is results that matter, not just effort. They give teeth to our water quality laws. They say that if water is contaminated, polluters must apply more stringent techniques until the water is actually clean.”

20 More Years?
Relicensing Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant
Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the Hudson Riverkeeper, along with a coalition of 70 citizen and environmental groups and a strong bi-partisan body of 400 federal, state, and local elected officials, has called for the shutdown and decommissioning of the Indian Point nuclear power plant located in Buchanan, NY. The plant is 24 miles north of the Bronx and 35 miles north of Times Square.

Due to its proximity to the world’s financial center and the severe consequences of a major accident or attack on public health, the environment, and the economy, Indian Point deserves special attention. Twenty million people live within a 50-mile radius of Indian Point. A terrorist attack on either of Indian Point’s two reactors or their spent fuel pools could render uninhabitable much of the tri-state area and indefinitely contaminate the watershed that supplies drinking water to 9 million people. That the plant sits atop an active fault line, destroys significant amounts of Hudson River aquatic life each day, and has an abysmal operations and safety record only compounds the arguments for closure.

Indian Point’s owner/operator, Entergy, is expected to apply for 20-year license extensions for its two reactors as early as summer 2005. The previous 40-year licenses expire in 2013 (Indian Point 2) and 2015 (Indian Point 3). Another twenty years of operation would generate an additional 2000 tons of high-level radioactive waste that would sit on the bank of the Hudson River indefinitely.

To stop Entergy in its tracks, the Hudson Riverkeeper and its coalition partners launched a massive grassroots campaign on March 29. To a crowd of over 200 citizens and elected officials, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Hudson Riverkeeper Alex Matthiessen challenged citizens to participate in the democratic process by bringing anti-relicensing resolutions to local municipal boards. With resolutions already passed by four County boards and sixteen municipalities and citizens throughout the 50-mile radius of Indian Point armed with citizen toolkits to get more resolutions passed, Entergy is sure to have a fight on its hands.

euse Riverkeeper’s Spring Cleanup
30,000 Pound Success!
The Neuse Riverkeeper and Neuse Riverkeeper Foundation held their 3rd annual Neuse River Clean Up event on Saturday, April 2. Volunteers covered from Falls Dam all the way to Smithfield Commons in Smithfield, North Carolina – 50 continuous miles of river. Heavy rain could not dampen the spirit of the 200 volunteers who showed their commitment to a cleaner Neuse River by collecting 347 bags of trash.

In just the three years Neuse River Foundation has sponsored this clean up we have removed more than 30,000 lbs of trash from the river and along the banks.

Action!
Waterkeeper Mercury Hair Testing
Waterkeeper Alliance has teamed up with Greenpeace and the University of North Carolina to give you the opportunity to test your mercury levels.

Mercury is a highly toxic substance that contaminates a third of our nation’s lakes, a quarter of our rivers, and many of the fish we eat. Mercury ends up in the tissues of commonly eaten fish like tuna and bass and threatens the health of millions of people across the United States. Humans, at the top of the food chain, can consume enough mercury to put them at risk of neurological, circulatory and immune system disorders. EPA and the Centers for Disease Control estimate that 630,000 children are born every year with unsafe levels of mercury in their blood.

Waterkeeper and Greenpeace have made a hair sampling kit available to the public for $25 per kit. The University of North Carolina Environmental Quality Institute Laboratory will analyze your hair sample and return the confidential results to you in a few weeks.

If you have high levels of mercury in your body, you can take corrective action to protect your health.

Visit www.waterkeeper.org for more information and to order the kit today.

Plan to Delay San Fran Bay Mercury Cleanup Until 22nd Century Squashed
Baykeeper has successfully blocked the adoption of an illegal, loophole-filled cleanup plan for mercury in San Francisco Bay. The cleanup plan, or TMDL, would have allowed an astonishing 120 years before the waters of the Bay would achieve water quality standards. The State Water Resources Control Board, who was required to approve the plan, and the regional US EPA office agreed with Baykeeper and other environmental groups that the plan was far too weak.

The plan would have left generations of families exposed to unsafe levels of this neurotoxin. Even more appalling, it proposed to literally do nothing in the short term to reduce mercury pollution, and in a few cases, allowed increases. As a precedent-setting decision for toxic pollutants, this plan would have significantly compromised the entire state’s water cleanup program. By sending it back for more work, the state has sent a clear message that 120 years of nothing is unacceptable. Baykeeper will now push for a plan with a more aggressive timeframe and concrete actions in the next 5 years that will reduce mercury released into the environment

Farmers Breathe Easier on the Lang Lang River
When a group of farmers on Gippsland’s Lang Lang River, Australia, heard of a proposal to locate six chicken broiler sheds with an effluent dam just 60 metres from their river, they became quite alarmed at the potential for damage to their farming operations and to their local environment. The community has worked for a long time to revegetate their surrounds, and reckoned that the return to the river of local wildlife, including platypus, was nature’s stamp of approval on their efforts.

The siting of thousands of chickens on the banks of the river did not jive with the community’s plans for the Lang Lang. The proposed sheds were to be built on land that Melbourne Water advised was “subject to inundation.” Even with the risk of flooding, the developer applied for planning approval. It was then that the Lang Lang Riverkeeper and the Gipps West Environs Landcare group swung into action.

“We got advice and support from the Environment Defenders Office, the legal service of lawyers who provide support for environmental protection,” said Trevor Row, the Lang Lang Riverkeeper.

Ron Murcott, President of Gipps West Environs Landcare continued, “We asked Waterkeepers Australia, the support network to which we belong, to put out a call for information from other community groups with experience in contesting similar environmental protection cases.”

“We presented our case to the planning board over the four days of a hearing late last year. We brought in a busload of farmers and environmentalists from the community to show their opposition to the plan. Then, over the eight weeks since the hearing, we waited with bated breath,” said Trevor. The news broke on Monday, February 14, that no permit is to be issued for the development.

Jury Awards $2.3 Million Over Stormwater Runoff
This May a jury in metro Atlanta slapped a builder with what may be the largest judgment in a stormwater pollution case in Georgia history. D.R. Horton-Torrey, Inc., the nation’s largest homebuilder, was directed to pay two schoolteachers $2.35 million for piping dirty runoff into their yards for one year during construction of 67 homes in Kennesaw, Georgia. Horton-Torrey constructed a drainage pond that emptied into the teachers’ backyards and contaminated a well that they shared. The teachers said that dirt-colored water flowed from their faucets and they couldn’t take a bath or drink the well water for 3 to 5 days after a heavy rain. Soil erosion from construction activities is a major source for water quality problems in fast-growing metro Atlanta and throughout the state.

Earlier this year, Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (UCR), which is based in Atlanta, kicked off a two-year Get the Dirt Out Campaign that focuses on polluted runoff from construction sites. With a $150,000 grant from the U.S. EPA, UCR has developed comprehensive materials and a website (www.getthedirtout.org) to train the other six Riverkeeper groups in Georgia. The Georgia Waterkeeper programs are now training citizens in their watersheds so that they can document and report problems. More enforcement actions are on the way. Special Get the Dirt Out workshops have also been provided to public interest attorneys, local governments and developers.

Making the Clean Water Act Work
SP Newsprint: The Negotiations Continue
This is the third installment in our series on the Citizen Suit provision of the Clean Water Act. In our fall 2004 issue we introduced the Altamaha Riverkeeper, a Georgia Waterkeeper who had filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue a local paper mill. The Riverkeeper’s suit alleged illegal discharges of plastics and sewage into the Oconee River, a tributary of the Altamaha.

The Altamaha Riverkeeper has been effective in protecting our watershed because we are tough, fair-minded, and willing to take action to protect our river. When Altamaha Riverkeeper James Holland gets involved in a case, polluters usually know that they can either comply with the law or face a tenacious adversary until the river is cleaned up.

It’s been nine months since we first alerted SP Newsprint Co. of our intent to sue over violations of the Clean Water Act – shredded plastic and sewage emanating from a discharge pipe into the Oconee River.

Last fall, with our filing fee check already signed and the legal paperwork ready to be filed with the court, Altamaha Riverkeeper agreed to temporarily put off litigation and instead engaged in settlement discussions with SP Newsprint. With the threat of litigation hanging over their heads, we were able to get all of the principals of the company on the phone in one day. Once we agreed to engage in negotiations, it took weeks to schedule follow up meetings. After several months of hard negotiations, we believe we are now close to a settlement, but at press time a formal agreement has still not been entered into. Experience tells us that until an agreement is signed, anything can happen, so we remain prepared to press our issues before the court if negotiations break down and a settlement cannot be reached.

While we are confident that the court would ultimately rule in our favor, our ultimate goal is to clean up the river, so we were willing to resolve our Clean Water Act complaint out of court if SP Newsprint would voluntarily agree to put an end to its illegal discharges and help clean up the Oconee River. As the Altamaha Riverkeeper, we are committed to work with citizens to insure that the laws and regulations to protect water quality are enforced. We will continue to pursue this case until it is resolved.

Stay tuned for the summer issue to see if Altamaha Riverkeeper and SP Newsprint can resolve this case.

Chesapeake Waterkeeper Programs
Stop “Limited Use” Proposal for Bay’s Waterways
Chesapeake Waterkeeper Programs and other Maryland environmental organizations headed off plans to weaken clean up standards for polluted waterways. The proposal called for a new category of polluted waterways under state law that would require only nominal clean up. Assateague Coastkeeper, Chester Riverkeeper, Severn Riverkeeper, South Riverkeeper, Patapsco Riverkeeper, Patuxent Riverkeeper and Potomac Riverkeeper worked through the public comment process and the media to expose and end this misguided effort.

The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) proposed creating a new “Limited Use” or “Use V” category under the state’s Water Quality Standards, in effect designating those waterways as too polluted to justify the cost of cleanup. But the approach may as well be called “Use Zero.” Estimates that well over half of Maryland streams could fall into the proposed category alarmed and outraged many in the environmental community. After the close of the pubic comment period, Maryland’s apparent disregard of Clean Water Act requirements was highlighted in a front-page story in the Baltimore Sun, which led to further public outcry around the state. A month later, on April 13, 2005, the state announced it was dropping the proposal.

Alternative Manure Treatment
Waterkeeper Alliance’s new Citizen’s Guide to Manure Treatment Technologies reviews the affordable technologies that livestock operations can use to safely manage their manure. It is geared towards citizen action groups, zoning boards, lawyers, farmers, students, and others who are interested in preventing water pollution from livestock production. This report is part of our Pure Farms Pure Water campaign – using education and advocacy to protect our waterways from the devastating pollution associated with livestock agriculture.

An introduction to the report is available on our website: www.waterkeeper.org and if you would like a hard copy of the report, please contact Janelle Robbins at jrobbins@waterkeeper.org.

Join the Stop Global Warming Virtual March on Washington
Demonstrate the vast consensus among Americans that
global warming is real. The time to solve it is NOW!
This yearlong action will move across the United States via the Internet. On each stop we will visit with real people, draw attention to the stark evidence of global warming in their community, and explore solutions that are already making a difference. We will march to: Indianapolis to visit the Indy Racing League where all of the racecars will soon be converted to run on biofuels; Colorado, where an elementary school is purchasing 100% of its electricity from wind power; and New York City to visit the ground-breaking green rebuilding of the World Trade Towers.

On April 22, 2006 – Earth Day – we will arrive in Washington D.C. to demand:

1. A real plan of action to address global warming from the President of the United States;

2. New laws to reduce global warming pollution from U.S. power plants, factories and automobiles from the Congress; and

3. A new industrial revolution of clean energy products that will reduce our oil dependence and global warming pollution
from U.S. business and consumers.

Why are you marching?

The longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to mitigate the effects of climate change. Are we going to hand our children and grandchildren a world vastly different from the one that we now inhabit?
– Senator John McCain (R-AZ)

Shoulder-to-shoulder, let’s march together to save what God loaned us, so our children and their children will live in a world we would recognize a hundred years from now. No excuses. No apologies. Take the first step today. We can’t do it without you.
– General Wesley Clark

Once I understood the gravity of the global warming problem, doing nothing was not an option.
– March Founder Laurie David

Join the Virtual March now at www.stopglobalwarming.org