VIEW THIS ON THE American Rivers WEBPAGE WITH DIRECT LINKS TO THE ACTUAL BILLS!! http://www.amrivers.org/policynew.html With Congress out of session until January, action on the legislative front will be slow. We will use this window of opportunity to bring you related river conservation information - news, science, and resource tools. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New On December 17, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that rivers flowing through private property can be open to the public for recreational purposes, expanding a 130-year opinion that the public should have access to rivers if they are navigable to include recreational uses as well. The suit involved a dispute between the private Adirondack League Club Inc. and New York, the Sierra Club, and several other environmental organizations. The ALC contended that the twelve miles of the South Branch of the Moose River running through the club's land was private property. The Sierra Club countered that all of the river should be open to the public. To prove the navigability of the section of the river, members of the Sierra Club canoed and kayaked down the river in June 1991. The ALC sued the Sierra Club for trespassing. Instead of handing down a decision on the twelve miles of river, the NY Court of Appeals sent the case back to the State Supreme Court for a trial and ruled on the overall standard to be used in deciding this case and others like it. The court stated in the majority opinion: ''Although evolving necessities and circumstances may warrant a different emphasis regarding a river's usefulness, the central premise of the common law rule remains the same: in order to be navigable in fact, a river must provide practical utility to the public as a means for transportation.'' Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New In a recent report by the National Research Center, a panel of scientists called upon Congress to end a moratorium on granting exclusive fishing quotas to individual fishermen. The scientists asserted individual quotas could help ease pressure on the most vulnerable fisheries without threatening the livelihoods of commercial anglers. Two years ago, Congress froze the use of individual permits due to fierce opposition from a number of fishing groups. A number of maritime countries such as Canada have used individual quotas. Four US fisheries have adopted the practice, including the halibut and sablefish fisheries in Alaska. Opponents of quotas claim the permits encourage consolidation of fishing fleets and are assigned too arbitrarily to be fair. Other more traditional limits, such as shortening fishing seasons and imposing fishery-wide quotas, often drive anglers to become more competitive by purchasing larger boats, using more gear, and fishing longer hours to catch more fish more quickly. In addition to recommending dropping the moratorium, the NRC report also emphasized that quotas may not be appropriate for every fishery and should be viewed as one of a number of techniques available for developing fishery management plans. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New Pressured by a lawsuit, the federal government must decide by January 15 whether to place the Santa Ana sucker on the endangered species list. Once common in the Los Angeles, San Gabriel, and Santa Ana Rivers and smaller California streams, Santa Ana suckers have been forced inland by river channelization and now survives in the Santa Ana River between Riverside and Yorba Linda, CA. The CA regional chapter of the American Fisheries Society and California Trout, represented by the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, took to court last year to force the federal government to make a decision on the Santa Ana sucker. If the federal government agrees the fish should be listed as endangered, a final decision will be made by the end of 1999. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New Pressured by a petition from the Biodiversity Legal Foundation, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to study whether Bonneville cutthroat trout living in the Rocky Mountains should be listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. Native to the drainages of the Thomas Fork and South Fork of the Bear River in southwest Wyoming, the Bonneville cutthroat was once believed to be extinct. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New River Network Watershed Assistant Grants Program Criteria and Application for 1999: River Network is offering Watershed Assistance Grants to support innovative efforts that build the capacity of community-based partnerships to conserve or restore watersheds. Selected projects will focus on one or more watershed problems/issues, involve diverse interests in the development of lasting solutions, and have clearly defined objectives and evaluation methods. The grants may not be used to influence legislation or policy. The Watershed Assistance Project Grants range $4,000 to $30,000 and are available for projects of significant impact. Watershed Assistance Mini-grants of up to $4,000 are available for targeted, short-term technical assistance projects that meet narrowly defined, critical response needs of watershed partnerships. The deadline for submitting proposals for 1999 Watershed Assistance Project Grants is February 18. Proposals for 1999 Watershed Assistance Mini-grants must be submitted by February 18 for the first round and June 15 for the second round. For more information, contact River Network at rivernet@igc.apc.org or see their webpage at http://www.rivernetwork.org. Completed applications should be sent to River Network, Watershed Assistance Project Grants, Attn: Kathy Luscher, PO Box 8787, Portland, OR 97207. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New A new report released last week by a panel of scientists confirmed the belief of many environmental organizations that breaching four dams on the lower Snake River would be the best way to save the river's dwindling salmon populations. According to the report, prepared using a computer model called Plan for Analyzing and Testing Hypotheses (PATH), removing the dams would increase the likelihood of saving Snake River spring and summer Chinook to more than 80 percent. The chances for saving the fish using the current method of barging salmon around the dams is continued or expanded is only 50 percent. The National Marine Fisheries Service is expected to make recommendations on the dams in 1999. The Army Corps of Engineers, which is studying the engineering and potential economic effects of breaching, is scheduled to make recommendations to the NMFS in April. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New In a move that could change how the Missouri River is managed, Senator Bob Kerrey (D-NE) may push for changes in a federal law to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to manage the Missouri River for wildlife management and flood control rather than barge navigation. Currently, the Missouri River is maintained for barge traffic, which requires restraining its banks with wing dikes and levees across most of the reach between Sioux City and St. Louis. Without changes to federal law, the Army Corps may not alter this management mandate. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New According to a new survey conducted by the Canadian think tank Fraser Institute, the most attractive region in North America for mining exploration ventures is Nevada because of its geological reserves and favorable business climate. Fraser polled 280 mining companies with 1997 exploration ventures of at least $1 billion to rate mining regions based on mineral potential and public policies such as taxation and regulation. Behind Nevada, other mining favorites included Ontario, Chile, Mexico, Manitoba and Quebec. The mining companies gave British Columbia, Wisconsin and Montana low scores or considered them unfavorable places for exploration because of the "uncertain" enforcement their mining regulations. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New According to a recent study conducted by the US Geological Survey, emission rates of nitrous oxide from the South Platte River in Colorado and Nebraska are comparable to some of the highest in the world and rivers may be a major human-made source of nitrous oxide to the atmosphere. Polluted rivers like the South Platte may release significant amounts of the gas - a catalyst for ozone depletion process high in the atmosphere - as a result of effluents from wastewater treatment plants and agricultural fields. USGS concluded that annual nitrous oxide emissions from the South Platte are comparable to the estimated annual emissions from all primary municipal wastewater treatment processes in the nation. The results from the one-year study were published as an article in the 12/14 issue of the American Chemical Society journal. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New The US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water publishes "Watershed Events," a bulletin on sustaining water resources and ecosystems. It offers a useful collection of watershed news, projects, resources, events, and general information for those interested in the development and implementation of the watershed approach and in achieving watershed goals. You may subscribe for free by calling Melissa Bowen at 703-385-6000 or by sending your name and address to: Melissa Bowen, Tetra Tech, Inc., 10306 Eaton Place, Suite 340, Fairfax, VA 22030. Back to top or back to home page or back to Whats New A team of California and federal resource agencies has unveiled a $4 plus billion plan to rebuild the wild fisheries and levees and improve the quality and reliability of water supplies in the California Delta, located between the Central Valley and San Francisco Bay. The CALFED plan delays for several years a decision between building a controversial Peripheral Canal around the Delta or new reservoirs. The seven-year plan, funded by federal and state taxpayers as well as California water users, does not do away with the problematic method of extracting water directly out of the Delta, but changes will be made to improve the process. Pumping sucks up and starves salmon, degrades the fragile island levees, and fails to remove many organic compounds in drinking water supplies. Environmental regulators will have the authority to mandate cutbacks in water pumping, which cities and farmers claim result in unstable water supplies. The CALFED proposal, aimed at satisfying water needs of the state while minimizing demands and impacts on the Delta, also includes $1 billion to widen Delta rivers to create better fish habitat, $250 million to fortify flood-prone island levees, and additional funds for pollution control and habitat improvement projects upstream. American Rivers, 1025 Vermont Avenue, NW, Suite 720 Washington, DC 20005, (202) 347-7550 To unsubscribe, please send an email to outreach@amrivers.org with the following in the text of the email: unsubscribe (your email address) (do not include the parentheses). CHECK OUT OUR HOMEPAGE!! http://www.amrivers.org QUESTIONS? Contact Suzy McDowell, Conservation Outreach Coordinator, at smcdowell@amrivers.org or 202-347-7550x3040. Legislative information taken from many sources including: Congressional Green Sheets, Environment and Energy Weekly, Greenwire, and Roll Call.
American Rivers Policy Update For the week of December 21, 1998
AGRICULTURE
Agricultural Waste News from Around the Nation:
ALABAMA: The AL Department of Environmental Management has proposed establishing buffer zones of 1,320 feet between liquid waste facilities and the nearest house, school, church, or hospital, and 330 feet between dry waste facilities and the nearest structure. The Alabama Environmental Council criticized the rules as being inadequate.
IOWA: IGF Insurance Co. is developing a program to compensate farmers for production losses in exchange for their participation in efforts to reduce water pollution from nitrogen runoff. The program, to include 50 to 100 farmers, is part of a larger initiative to assist farmers in environmental protection measures. Iowa should finalize the program in the upcoming weeks.
MINNESOTA: Early in 1999, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency plans to unveil a report aimed at dealing with pollution associated with the state's 45,000 feedlots. In 1998, the MPCA received more than 435 complaints about the feedlots, but only one was served a violation notice. The report will map out how long it takes the agency to respond to a complaint, where most of the problems occurred, and what technologies exist to solve the problems.
NEBRASKA: In mid-December, thirteen of the fourteen members of the Nebraska Environmental Quality Council voted in favor of relaxing a toxic sulfur compound regulation and removing exemptions for feedlots. The air quality rule, passed in June 1997, was revised to resolve a lawsuit involving a company that claimed the rule discriminated by exempting all feedlots except those next to packing plants and giving municipalities more time to comply.
VIRGINIA: A VA Senate committee recently passed a compromise bill to regulate manure handling on Virginia poultry farms. The legislation will go before the state's General Assembly next month. The compromise calls for the VA Department of Environmental Quality to issue permits to chicken farms and regulate them as they do livestock farms. Representative Taylor Murphy (D) and Joe Maroon of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation both supported the compromise legislation.
COURT CASES
NY Rules Rivers Through Private Land Are Open To Public Recreation:
FISH AND WILDLIFE
Moratorium on Exclusive Fishing Quotas May End:
ESA Decision Upcoming on Santa Ana Sucker:
USFWS to Consider Bonneville Cutthroat Trout for ESA Status:
FUNDING/GRANTS
HYDROPOWER/DAMS
Snake River Dams Controversy:
Senator Kerrey May Propose Law to Protect Missouri River Wildlife:
MINING
Nevada Ranks #1 in US for Mining Exploration:
STUDIES AND PUBLICATIONS
South Platte River Found to Emit High Levels of Nitrous Oxide
Watershed Bulletin Available:
WATER RESOURCES
New $4 Billion Plan to Restore CA Delta:
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