The House Agriculture and Ecology Committee held a meeting on July 7. This meeting was reported on by the Olympian, The Chronicle, and the Associated Press. Each report takes a different slant and focus. They are all related to the TMDL issue in Lewis County that deals with the quality of the Chehalis River.
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| State, U.S. coordinate efforts to restore fish
By Sharon Michael, The Chronicle, 7/7/98 OLYMPIA - State and federal agencies are coordinating to clean up the state's waterways and bring back fish, officials told the House Agriculture and Ecology Committee Monday. Chuck Clarke, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator, said EPA is working with fisheries groups to develop a "one-stop permitting process" for Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act requirements. Showing people how to align requirements of the two acts is a critical component for long-term success, Clarke said. But Clarke said the state Department of Ecology should take the lead in developing plans to clean up Washington's polluted waterways. His agency would be forced to take a "cookie-cutter' approach if it performed water-quality studies measuring pollutant loads and capacities called TMDLs - for the states. "That doesn't work to the advantage of anyone," he told the committee. Will Stelle, National Marine Fisheries Service regional administrator, called the overlap between ESA and CWA "very significant." Stelle said salmon are equivalent to "the canary in the coal mine, and what they are telling us here is that our streams are not in good shape." "Not acting is not an option. The problem will not go away, it will only get worse," he warned. The EPA and state governments already learned that lesson the hard way after losing 17 lawsuits nationwide for failure to conduct TMDL studies and implement plans to meet CWA standards. In January, Ecology reached a settlement with Northwest Environmental Advocates in a 1991 lawsuit seeking to force the state to step up evaluation of TMDL studies of polluted waterways. The agreement established a 15 year schedule for Ecology to complete TMDL studies and implement remedial plans for 636 state waterways that fall below water-quality standards. Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons said his agency should take the lead in implementing the TMDL program "if we can demonstrate to you and to the citizens of the state that we have a common sense approach mapped out for implementation." Fitzsimmons said the job requires a "much higher level of collaboration" between agencies, a much higher level of public understanding and much more money. TMDL studies should "include all people interested in water quality in the area," he said. Nina Bell, NWEA director, told the committee that it is "important not to have EPA doing this." But Bell reminded the committee that TMDL requirements are spelled out in federal legislation, and EPA regulations control state actions. Bell said total maximum daily load studies do not lend themselves to a "one-size-fits-all" approach because they are meant to be individual studies of pollutant loads in specific sections of waterways. Remedial action must be based on specifics of the studies. "It would be redundant for Washington state to try to reinvent the wheel, but it would (also) lead to contradictory results," she warned. Bell said TMDL studies "focus on specifics," they are "not rubber stamps" and "not best-management practices" decisions. NWEA has been "holding its breath' since it entered the consent decree in December, she said. If Ecology can't convince NWEA that it is moving ahead, "we'll be back in court," she said. "No one wants that." "By law, TMDL is not a collaborative process" Bell added. She said NWEA has "no objection to everyone being heard, but there is a difference between participation and ultimate responsibility for producing a legal and scientific document. It can't be delegated to watershed management groups" or other groups. "DOE's role is to interpret and apply regulations, not self-regulation or consensus TMDLs," she said. In response to a question from Rep. Gary Chandler, R-Moses Lake, committee chairman, Bell said she believes EPA and DOE are serious about completing TMDL studies and implementation plans. But the Legislature has not allocated "serious money" to the project.
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Authority for water cleanup agrued.
By John dodge, The Olympian, 7/7/98 OLYMPIA - The state should maintain the authority it was granted 20 years ago by the federal government to set water quality cleanup standards and enforce them on polluted bays, lakes and rivers. That was the conclusion of industry, environmental, tribal and local government officials testifying Monday before the House Agriculture and Ecology Committee. ' The House panel will offer recommendations and possible legislation to the 1999 legislature on the role the state should play in setting pollution limits for the 636 contaminated bodies of water. The best chance of restoring clean water and imperiled salmon runs is through a state-based program supported by federal agencies, legislators heard. But several legislators including committee chairman Gary Chandler, R-Moses Lake - groused that federal agencies are notorious for is suing conflicting edicts that leave property owners frustrated and confused when it comes to cleaning up water or restoring salmon. "Why don't we have the federal agencies working together?" Chandler asked. Federal officials conceded they could coordinate better. They said they are trying to make it so that landowners, developers and others can comply with the Clean Water and Endangered Species acts simultaneously. "There's a significant opportunity for one-stop shopping," said Will Stelle, regional administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service. Some of the frustration voiced by legislators grew out of a January pledge by the state Department of Ecology to accelerate cleanup of nearly 700 polluted bays, rivers, streams and lakes in the state, including in Thurston and Mason counties. Ecology's pledge was part of the settlement of a 1991 lawsuit by Northwest Environmental Advocates, a Portland based environmental group, charging Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with dragging their feet on pollution cleanup required under the federal Clean Water Act. The settlement requires Ecology to determine how much pollution a given body of water can handle and still be healthy for swimming, fishing or drinking or as fish habitat. Once the limits are established, it will be up to Ecology and all the pollution contributors to clean up the water. But the 1998 Legislature rejected Ecology's request for $900,000 in state funds to begin the pollution assessment and cleanup. Chandler and others questioned the wisdom of Ecology faking the lead to enforce federal law. However, polluters and environmentalists alike said Monday that people and salmon are better off if the state runs the show with the blessing of the federal agencies, tribes and other parties. If the state defers to the federal government, lawsuits and judges will dictate how water is cleaned up and salmon are restored, said Terry Williams, natural resource director for the 'Tulalip Tribe. "The state should run the program, but Ecology needs some new money," said Marcy Golde of the Washington Environmental Council. John Dodge covers the environment for The Olympian. He can be reached at 754-5444. |
GOP lawmakers not sure more money answer to controlling water pollution
By Hal Spencer, The Associated Press, from The Chronicle 7/7/98 OLYMPIA - Republican lawmakers say they're not inclined to boost an already big investment in water pollution control until they're convinced more money would do the job. In a hearing Monday, the legislators responded to federal regulators and environmentalists who asserted that Washington should put more effort and money into cleaning up the state's 636 polluted waterways. But Republican members of the House Agriculture and Ecology Committee argued that farmers, foresters and other polluters can't comply because of inconsistent and even conflicting federal regulations. They said the state should perhaps hang back and let Uncle Sam sort out and address pollution problems. The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Marine Fisheries Service are "notorious for issuing conflicting and contradictory edicts," contended Committee Chairman Gary Chandler. "It may be better for the citizens of the state of Washington if we make the (federal) agencies work the issue out" without the state's help, he said. Federal and state environmental officials, as well as environmental activists, said that approach would be misguided and good neither for Washington residents, their water resources nor the salmon that depend on those waters to thrive. Environmentalists hold the "simple belief that the state is the most appropriate agency to run its own water quality program," said Nina Bell, executive director of Northwest Environmental Advocates. The state should finance a plan to start cleaning up polluted waterways "rather than seeking ways to avoid the job or getting certain vested interests out of the program," she said. Bell faulted the Legislature for its "failure to fund a (cleanup) program that needs to be funded at a fairly high level." The 1998 Legislature declined to appropriate nearly $1 million to finance a program to control pollution, Bell and other environmentalists complained. But Chandler said the Legislature could not justify financing a cleanup program "when we don't even know what its going to be," given confusing federal regulations. It was Bell's group that won a recent settlement in which federal and state regulators agreed to a 15-year schedule to clean up 636 waterways identified as polluted under the federal Clean Water Act. Much of the pollution is difficult to attack. Rather than coming out of an industrial polluter's pipe, its sources range from dairy cattle waste to urban sprawl and timber harvesting. Examples include Lake Washington, the Columbia River, Elliott Bay, the Strait of Georgia, the Yakima River, Grays Harbor, and the Snake River. They suffer from pollutants ranging from fecal coliform to fish-killing sedimentation and high temperatures. Chuck Clarke, EPA's Region 10 administrator, said the Legislature's hands-off approach could backfire. If the federal government enforces clean water standards, "there is likely to be more of a cookie cutter approach" to enforcement, meaning less sympathy for the individual problems of a given waterway and less opportunity to negotiate a solution. "This problem is not going to go away," added Will Stelle, regional administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service. The growing need to protect salmon will only exacerbate the problem, he said. |
Clean water job for feds, say mayor
By Sharon Michael, The Chronicle, 7/7/98 OLYMPIA - Almost everyone who testified at Monday's House Agriculture and Ecology Committee hearing said the state Department of Ecology is the appropriate lead agency for implementing federal Clean Water Act water quality standards. But Chehalis Mayor Bob Spahr said he would prefer the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency take charge, unless Ecology takes a more ''common sense'' approach in its rulings. Spahr complained Ecology officials will not allow Chehalis to use aeration to increase dissolved oxygen in its treated wastewater discharge. At a June 26 meeting of the Chehalis Basin Partnership - a watershed planning group that includes Lewis County governments - Ecology water quality specialist Kahle Jennings stated that state and federal regulations do not allow Ecology to permit aeration of the river. ''Federal law does allow for innovation - including aeration,'' Spahr told the house committee Monday. ''We think it ought to be tried,'' Spahr added. ''It can be done for a million and a half, or less.'' Chehalis is looking at $25 million to $30 million in engineering and construction costs to pipe wastewater downstream of the slow-moving Centralia Reach where it can be discharged during low-flow periods. The draft consent decree prohibits discharge into the reach during low-flow periods. The Chehalis City Council will meet in executive session tonight to continue to discuss compliance with Ecology-ordered wastewater discharge permit conditions. The city has until mid-August to sign a mediated consent decree intended to settle a lawsuit filed by Chehalis, Centralia and Darigold Inc. against Ecology over wastewater-discharge permit conditions. If the Chehalis council fails to ratify the negotiated agreement, city officials will have to return to court in September to continue its fight with Ecology. ''The only way we could get DOE to listen to us - to talk to us - is to sue them,'' Spahr told the committee. Spahr said continuing the court battle will cost $1 million - money the city doesn't have. Centralia and Darigold officials already signed a ''plain English'' version of the consent decree. ''By signing this document, we're not getting anything,'' Spahr said Monday. He said moving the city's wastewater discharge will not improve river conditions for fish, but aeration would. Public Works Director Barry Heid said the city is still looking at a number of options for meeting discharge permit conditions, including aeration. Heid said the city does an excellent job of treating its wastewater before discharging it into the river. ''We're happy to do more, but we don't want to spend money (unnecessarily),'' he said. He said piping treated sewage down river is an expensive solution that ''does nothing'' to improve water quality. ''At this point, we'd just like an opportunity not to have our hands tied when the law allows use of some innovative measures,'' Heid said after the hearing. Ecology Director Tom Fitzsimmons agreed ''to look at it,'' Heid added. ''They have agreed to look at it, and provide some sort of report to Sen. (Bob) Morton and us.'' Morton, R-Kettle Falls, Senate Agriculture and Environmental Committee chairman, sat in on the House hearing. Sharon Michael covers Centralia and Chehalis city governments for The Chronicle. She can be reached by e-mail at smichael@chronline.com or by calling 807-8237. |