Water Keeper Fall 04

1. Live Fire Safety Zones
The Bush administration proposed 34 permanent “safety zones” throughout the Great Lakes where the Coast Guard would conduct live fire training, putting the public and the environment at serious risk. The administration named the firing areas “safety zones” to sidestep legal requirements to review the human safety and environmental impacts of the plan.

Coast Guard vessels are increasingly being outfitted with 50- and 60-caliber machine guns and shoulder-fired rifles. Crews would fire thousands of rounds of ammunition that would end up in the Great Lakes. Spent bullets contain lead and other toxins that contaminate water and sediment and make its way into the food chain. The plan also posed a major public safety concern as unsuspecting boaters might stray into firing zones. Public notification on where and when firing exercises would occur was grossly inadequate under the proposal.

Waterkeeper Alliance submitted strong comments in opposition and on December 17 the Coast Guard bit the bullet and pulled its irresponsible plan.

2. Permission to Destroy Wetlands in Mississippi
In the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Army Corps of Engineers has announced a new policy to allow developers to bypass long-standing permit requirements to destroy wetlands. This proposal is misguided and the Corps should be focusing on restoring the Gulf Coast’s wetlands for protection against future storms. The Corps’ proposal would allow property owners and developers to skirt the conventional permit process for projects that fill up to five acres of certain wetlands in the Mississippi’s six southernmost counties. Worse, the proposed policy eliminates the requirement for public notification and involvement in such projects.

Wetlands are vital for capturing stormwater and slowly releasing it back into streams and aquifers. Wetlands are a hot topic all along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast. Not only was the flooding exacerbated by the extensive loss of marshes and bogs to centuries of development in the region, the storm claimed thousands of acres of remaining wetlands. Rubberstamping permits to allow speedy development in wetlands will increase downstream flooding, leaving even more of coastal Mississippi communities vulnerable to future storms. Waterkeeper Alliance has filed opposition comments and will fight to stop this proposal.

3. EPA Finalizes “Pesticides in Your Water” Rule
Pesticides are toxic by design. Yet the Bush administration has declared that pesticides are no longer considered pollutants and can be applied directly to, over or near waterways without a Clean Water Act permit. Under current federal law, a permit is required whenever a pollutant is discharged from a point source into a U.S. waterway. Under this new rule, pesticides can be applied directly into waters, onto shorelines or onto foliage over water without a permit as long as it is done in accordance with the pesticide’s label and as long as the pesticide is intended to target the pests and getting the pesticides into the water is “unavoidable.”

EPA claims that pesticide labels are sufficient to guarantee protection of water, but most of these chemicals are not designed for use in water and their impacts to aquatic ecosystems have not been studied. What we do know is that many of the chemicals are toxic to aquatic plants and animals — they were designed to kill. These chemicals are not removed by common water treatment processes, meaning they can end up in drinking water. Waterkeeper Alliance has already filed our legal challenge. We will have our day in court.