KANSAS VS COLORADO DECISION
The US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 vote, awarded Kansas $23 million to compensate for Colorado violating their compact on the Arkansas River. The award included interest from 1986 until Colorado stopped depleting Kansas’ share of the river. Colorado failed to curtail groundwater pumping within the river alluvium until a few years ago when the State Engineer adopted rules requiring augmentation for junior depletions.
INSTREAM FLOW (ISF) FILINGS FOR 2002
Information regarding the proposed San Miguel and Montrose County ISF Recommendations can be found at: <http://cwcb.state.co.us/isf/2002/2002.htm> These recommendations are still in the “Draft Phase” and Colorado Water Conservation Board staff intends to continue working on these recommendations and taking public comment on them through the summer until mid October.
ANIMAS-LA PLATA
Reclamation has initiated public discussions on how much money non-Indian beneficiaries of the Animas-la Plata Project will have to pay for their share of the water. The federal government is paying for the Utes’ share of construction costs, which is about $188 million, plus about $60 million in interest during construction. Under the A-LP legislation passed in December 2000, beneficiaries can either pay the money up-front or wait until after construction, which is expected to take seven years. Interest during construction will be 8.5 percent, said Pat Schumacher, manager of the Bureau of Reclamations office in Durango.
Schumacher said Reclamation would like to have any agreements to pay the money up-front in place by Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year. Any non-Indian group that wants to pay up-front has to do so before construction starts, but the renegotiated cost-share agreements are not crucial, he said. If the non-Indians do not reach an agreement on sharing the costs of the project, their water would be reallocated to the Utes.
In New Mexico, the San Juan Water Commission met with representatives of the Bureau of Reclamation in Farmington to discuss options. In Colorado, the president of the A-LP water district said the district is ready to sit down and talk with Reclamation. The city of Durango is the top candidate to buy water from the water district, but the city is contemplating building a reservoir in Horse Gulch, which may be cheaper than leasing water from the A-LP Project. The state of Colorado may step in to help the A-LP Water District. Under the 1986 cost-share agreement, the state was willing to pay $5.6 million of the A-LP water district’s cost for municipal and industrial water. The state has $42.4 million in an escrow account to help non-Indian water beneficiaries with cost-sharing and to develop recreation facilities at the 120,000-acre-foot Ridges Basin Reservoir. Schumacher said anyone interested in finding out about upcoming meetings can call (866) 720-0918.
COLORADO FLOATERS PRESS RIVER-ACCESS ISSUES
Increasing numbers of kayakers and rafters in Colorado and private interests who don’t want them floating past their land are forcing a crisis in murky state river-access laws. Early last month, a Gunnison County rancher filed a civil trespass charge against a local rafting outfitter. The outfitter responded by organizing a “raft-in” demonstration to show his resolve to not give up his rights to conduct commerce on rivers and streams.
Colorado is the only state without clearcut laws to allow rafting on state waters. Another incident occurred on the South Platte River where a fishing club erected a fence across the river to prevent kayakers from using the river through the private land. Denver Post; 6/14,16 &17.
COLORADO RIVER-ACCESS SUIT MAY NOT PLEASE LANDOWNERS
Even winning Colorado’s dispute between rafters who say they have a right to float the state’s streams and landowners who consider it trespassing may prove unpalatable to those landowners. Denver Rocky Mountain News; June 21
<http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/opinion/article/0,1299,DRMN_38_682115,00.html>
RECREATIONAL FLOWS FOR THE COLORADO RIVER
The United States has signed an agreement with the Cities of Palisade, Grand Junction and Fruita to provide water from the Green Mountain Reservoir to be delivered to the reach of the Colorado River between Palisade to the Loma Boat Ramp below Fruita. This water will come out of the Historic Users Pool on an “If and When” water is available (surplus) basis. The purpose (beneficial use) of this water is for nonconsumptive, municipal recreational use. The reason this agreement was sought by the municipalities is to protect their investments in whitewater improvements and to enhance flows for the endangered fish in this reach of the Colorado River. Since this water will benefit the recovery of endangered fish in the 15-mile reach above Grand Junction, there will be no charge for the water delivery.
RECREATIONAL FLOWS AWARDED TO GOLDEN
A water court has awarded the City of Golden its entire request (up to 1,000 cfs) for instream diversions in Clear Creek. The court acknowledged that Golden proved they were putting that water to beneficial use. Upstream towns and the Colorado Water Conservation Board objected to the application claiming it would restrict depletions needed for municipal and industrial consumptive uses. This decision affirms the legitimacy of non-consumptive recreational use of water within Colorado’s prior appropriation administration of water.
DENVER DRAINING ITS AQUIFERS
Denver and its southern suburbs are drawing down aquifers as much as 30 feet a year, using more water than is being replaced, increasing costs now, and raising the specter of a rationed future. Denver Post; June 24 “Within the next 20 years, the artesian pressure is going to be gone over a large part of the basin, that whole I-25 corridor,” says George VanSlyke, chief of geotechnical services at the Colorado Division of Water Resources, on the rapidly declining levels of metro Denver aquifers.
<http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%7E50646,00.html>
NEW RECLAMATION CHIEF
President Bush plans to nominate John W. Keys III to head the Bureau of Reclamation, the nation’s largest wholesale seller of water. Keys served as the bureau’s Pacific Northwest director from 1986 to 1998, managing 24 irrigation projects and dealing with disputes over salmon in the Columbia River basin. Keys began his bureau career as a civil and hydraulic engineer in Utah, North Dakota, Montana and Colorado from 1964 to 1986. During that time, he developed a taste for river rafting and “has enjoyed running the Colorado River and most other Western rivers,” according to a bureau press release. The agency that dammed many of these rivers, the bureau provides water to 31 million people and one out of five Western farmers.
UPPER COLORADO RIVER RECOVERY PROGRAM
Grow-out ponds inventory has been increased by 8 acres with the lease of two more ponds. Using donated or leased ponds is a cost-effective alternative to new hatchery construction. On May 31, biologists stocked a CDOT-donated former gravel pit pond with about 30,000 young razorback suckers raised at the Recovery Program’s hatchery near Grand Junction. The ponds are needed for fish to grow larger and acclimate to a more natural environment before they are reintroduced to the Colorado River this fall. Recovery Program staff regularly observe razorback suckers in the Green River mainstem that originated from Ouray National Fish Hatchery stockings into the Stirrup, Baeser Bend, and above Brennon floodplain depressions. Razorback suckers stocked into the floodplain depressions are marked by the hatchery with a coded wire tag so they can be differentiated from wild native fish. Some of the stocked fish coming out of the floodplains have been able to find their way to the vicinity of spawning bars.
GUNNISON RIVER PBO POSTPONED
The Programmatic Biological Opinion for historic and a reasonable amount of future depletions in the Gunnison River Basin has been suspended until several other issues are resolved.
It is anticipated that changing the operations of the Aspinall Unit to more closely mimic the natural hydrograph will mitigate the impacts of depletions on recovering the listed species. Reoperation of Aspinall will follow the flow recommendations by the Fish and Wildlife Service, which have not been finalized. NEPA compliance will be required for reoperation. There is concern about the slowness in development of the computer modeling, called Riverware, needed to evaluate the reoperation and Black Canyon rights. Riverware and the Colorado Decision Support Simulation (CDSS) will have to be melded to understand the effects of reoperation on water rights.
RIO GRANDE DRYING UP AGAIN
Mountain “runoff is coming to an end,” the river is “dropping” and the middle Rio Grande, home to 95% of the remaining critically endangered silvery minnow, is once again in danger of “drying up” says the Albuquerque Journal 6/20. With rescue teams standing by, and environmentalists “gearing up for a court hearing,” efforts are underway to find enough water to keep the bottom from falling out. The local irrigation district has enough water for farmers so it can “afford to give some to minnows” but wants “protection from violations of the ESA” in exchange. Still, there is simply not “enough to keep the river wet all summer” and Rio Grande Restoration says “This could be the year the minnow goes extinct if we’re not careful and lucky.”
UPSTREAM USERS TAKE ALL OF RIO GRANDE
The Rio Grande, once large enough to accommodate ocean-going ships at its mouth, now runs dry 300 yards short of the Gulf of Mexico. Santa Fé New Mexican June 28
NEW MEXICO WATER PACT WON’T SAVE FISH, GROUPS SAY
Rio New Mexico’s attorney general and its U.S. senators brokered a deal last week to keep more water in the Rio Grande for three years, but environmentalists say it won’t save an endangered minnow or end their lawsuit. Albuquerque Tribune; July 2
NEW MEXICO’S TOP WATER OFFICIAL WARNS FARMERS OF CHANGE
New Mexico’s state engineer is spreading a warning irrigators don’t want to hear: Agriculture uses 80 percent of the state’s water and contributes 3 percent of its gross income, and more restrictions are coming. Santa Fé New Mexican July 6
GROUP WANTS INTERIOR TO TURN OFF TAP TO ARIZONA COAL MINE
The Natural Resources Defense Council says the Interior Department has the authority to curtail Peabody Coal Co.’s water use at its Black Mesa mine, but in 35 years, has never invoked the clause to protect Hopi or Navajo tribal members. Indian Country Today July 3
NEVADA’S THIRST QUENCHED?
Nevada would pay Arizona for enough new water to serve nearly 500,000 people a year, adding years to the date when Southern Nevada’s growth is expected to outstrip its water supplies, officials said. The Southern Nevada Water Authority and the state Colorado River Commission unanimously approved a complicated interstate arrangement in which Arizona would receive hundreds of millions of dollars to replenish its aquifers with Colorado River water that it can legally use but does not currently need. In future years, that water would be withdrawn from the aquifers and used by Arizona cities, freeing up part of Arizona’s share of Colorado River water for use in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Water authority officials said they expect the deal to allow them to meet Southern Nevada’s water demands until sometime between 2037 and 2047. The Arizona Water Banking Authority, whose board approved the deal in March, could store as much as 1.2 million acre-feet of water by putting Colorado River water into aquifers and by giving farmers river water to use instead of groundwater.
The Arizona Water Banking Authority and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District still must approve a mechanism for withdrawing the stored water. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who has oversight of the river in Arizona, Nevada and California, also must approve sections of the deal. The deal sets no prices, but Arizona expects to receive between $150 and $200 per acre-foot of stored water. The figure contains no outright profit, although roughly 20 percent of the fee would pay off Arizona’s share of the cost of the multi-billion dollar Central Arizona Project. The Southern Nevada Water Authority would pay Arizona from its roughly $2 billion capital improvement budget, which is funded almost entirely with sales tax revenue.
LOWER COLORADO WATER MANAGEMENT
On 6/13, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) Board postponed passing a resolution that recognizes the importance and interconnectedness of the quantification settlement agreement, California’s Colorado River use plan and the reclamation of the Salton Sea because the board had not seen the legislation the resolution supports. There is not total agreement within IID in support of the water transfer to San Diego or the current Salton Sea restoration proposal.
SALTON SEA AUTHORITY SUPPORTS TRANSFER
The Salton Sea Authority, a board of supervisors and water district board members from Riverside and Imperial counties, voted 4-2 to support legislation that would help California reduce its use of Colorado River to what the state is legally allowed. But the problem for the sea is the plan the board supported relies on taking water away from the Salton Sea.
Without the water, the price of keeping salinity levels in the sea safe for fish and the birds that feed on the fish climbs from about $200 million to more than $1 billion, a price tag critics say will never be funded. If the transfer is not complete by the end of 2002, then the Quantification Agreement deal is off. That would mean California would immediately have to reduce its use of the Colorado River. To speed up mitigation of the impact of the water transfer, the water districts are asking Congress to give them $60 million to help pay for the impacts.
COURT ORDERS END TO LISTING MORATORIUM
A U.S. appeals court has ordered the USFWS to immediately decide on listing the Gila chub, a minnow that has been on the ESA “candidate” list for 19 years says the Arizona Daily Sun 6/21. The ruling found that Interior Secretary Norton “can’t drag her feet and refuse to act on efforts to list” species under the ESA and according to the Center for Biological Diversity “should clear the way for action on 149 species that are listed as candidates.” The court rejected Interior’s contention that simply “considering a species for protection allows it to avoid the deadlines set by Congress.”
FLYCATCHER RECOVERY PLAN OUT
The USFWS has released a 5-year “$104 million draft plan” for the recovery of the endangered Southwestern willow flycatcher says the SF Chronicle, AP 6/7. The recovery plan features water releases from dams to “replicate natural river flows” and limits on grazing to restore the bird’s riparian habitat. The public has until Oct. 4 to comment on the plan to protect the estimated 900 to 1,100 breeding pairs found in 7 Southwestern states.
INDIAN WATER RIGHT SETTLEMENTS
In a May 23 “Dear Colleague” letter, six western senators invite cosponsors to join in soon introducing the Fiscal Integrity of Indian Settlements Protection Act of 2001.
Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Pete Domenici (R-NM), Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) describe the purpose of the bill as ensuring that “funds will be available to fulfill the federal government’s responsibilities to negotiated Indian land and water settlements.” They also address the fact that funding for Indian water right settlements now often comes at the expense of other Interior Department programs that are important to Indians and non-Indians.
LAST DITCH EFFORT TO SAVE FISHERY
In what Trout Unlimited describes 6/19 as a “last ditch effort to save one of California’s most valuable fisheries,” they have joined four local conservation groups in a lawsuit challenging State Water Resources Control Board allocations for the Yuba River. The SWRCB’s prescription for “dramatically reduced” river flows to provide irrigation water, could jeopardize the Central Valley’s “only remaining self-sustaining steelhead trout populations, as well as one of its last wild chinook salmon runs.”
DEBATE OVER STATE COHO PROTECTION
Environmentalists and loggers are at odds again over a proposal to add North Coast coho salmon to California’s endangered species list says the Santa Rosa Press Democrat 6/29. The state Fish and Game Commission has adopted emergency rules but conservationists say they are not strong enough and want “tighter restrictions on logging, gravel mining and water projects on North Coast rivers.”
WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES
In response to the Ninth Circuit Court’s March 12 decision in Headwaters Inc. v. Talent Irrigation District, where the court ruled that the use of pesticides and herbicides in irrigation ditches requires an NPDES permit, EPA’s current position is that “civil water enforcement priorities should not change and will be a low enforcement priority until EPA develops a concerted national approach on how to best regulate those activities.”
WATER CRISIS 150 YEARS IN THE MAKING
Oregon Governor Kitzhaber said, in a 6/1 Oregonian editorial, that “the current water crisis in the Klamath Basin has been 150 years in the making and serves as a reminder to us all that we are stretching our natural resources beyond their limits.” The governor blamed historic over-allocation of the Basin’s small water resources, not the ESA, stating that “Even in a normal year, the water in the Klamath Basin cannot meet the current, and growing, demands for tribal, agricultural, industrial, municipal and fish and wildlife needs.”
MORE ON THE KLAMATH RIVER
The House Resources Committee held a hearing in Klamath Falls Oregon to investigate the tension between irrigated agriculture and the Endangered Species Act at the Bureau of Reclamation’s Klamath Project.
The Bureau has been forced to stop distributing irrigation water to hundreds of farmers this summer in order to protect fish (including endangered coho salmon, Lost River sucker and shortnosed sucker) and a wintering population of over 1000 bald eagles — the largest in the contiguous 48 states.
Farmers & conservationists push Klamath solution – Farmers and environmentalists told a congressional hearing that a proposed “buy-out” of willing sellers is the only way to achieve a long-term solution to the “drought-parched” Klamath Basin’s ongoing water shortages says the Eugene Register-Guard, AP 6/16. Rather than sacrifice endangered species to maintain unsustainable agricultural practices in the arid region, the federal government must recognize that it has promised more water than it can deliver and make things right by helping “farmers move on to another livelihood.” The water and lands involved in the buyouts would then be used to support fish and wildlife in the Klamath National Wildlife Refuges, the Klamath River, Upper Klamath Lake and other areas in the watershed. So far, approximately two dozen farm families, representing as much as 30,000 acres, are offering to sell their land. Additionally, over 25 conservation groups in Oregon and California endorse the proposal. The proposal, titled “A Voluntary Demand Reduction and Resource Enhancement Program for the Klamath Project,” is available at: <http://www.onrc.org/press/026.kbasinsolution.html>
Local development interests continue to conduct a massive campaign to convince the Bush Administration and Oregon elected officials that minimal water needs mandated by the federal Endangered Species Act should be either overridden or ignored.
BOR decides to do the right thing – After the local irrigation district refused, the Bureau of Reclamation decided to do “what needed to be done” and closed a Klamath Basin headgate that had been “spilling water reserved for threatened and endangered fish into an irrigation canal,” says the LA Times, AP 7/3. An unknown party illegally opened the headgate on Friday (6/29), and although the amount of water spilled was too small to “make a difference for anyone’s crops,” it was diverted into the Tule Lake Sump “where it would benefit fish and wildlife.”
Desperate Klamath farmers briefly turn water back on – Federal officials in Klamath Falls, Ore., have asked for FBI help after angry farmers cut the chain from a gate, the third time in a week they’ve tried to reclaim water turned off to protect endangered fish. New York Times; July 6
Lowly Oregon fish sparks backlash against species act – The endangered suckerfish is getting the blame for cutting off irrigation water to 1,400 Klamath, Ore.-area family farms and for rallying resentment against the Endangered Species Act unlike anything since the snail darter. New York Times; June 20 [This is a cynical effort by certain members of the House Resources Committee to exploit the plight of the farmers to advance their own political agenda of gutting the ESA.]
HYDRO ACCORD FAILS TO SATISFY
An agreement to end “one of Oregon’s most contentious dam-relicensing battles” will “enhance habitat” on 6.6 miles of the North Umpqua River but stopped short of breaching the Soda Springs Dam says the Oregonian 6/14. Environmentalists were “disappointed” that measures to increase stream flow, restore the watershed and build fish ladders and screens did not include dam breaching as recommended by the USFS.
ABOUT AS GOOD AS IT GETS?
The Washington Forest Practices Board has approved a 50-year plan regulating logging to protect salmon and water quality on 8 million acres of private and 2 million acres of state- owned land says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer 5/18. The chairman of the state board that approved the plan, slated to go into effect July 1, said it was “about as good as you’re going to be able to get.” Environmentalists contend the plan’s “requirements are too lenient, lack scientific support and are too complicated for compliance by loggers.”
IRRIGATORS SUE OVER ESA RESTRICTIONS
Okanogan County, WA and local irrigators are going to court claiming that the federal government is “illegally using the ESA to cut off irrigation water from the Methow River” says the Oregonian, AP 6/20. The lawsuit, which seeks to “test a theory that the ESA has precedence over state water rights,” comes after the breakdown of several years of negotiations with the agencies on how much water must be left in streams and rivers for the fish.
Although the lawsuit “does not challenge the fact that farmers must comply with the ESA,” it hopes to require “compensation for landowners who are denied water rights because of the ESA.”
IDAHO BALKS AT WATER RELEASE TO AID SALMON
Idaho Power is resisting a request by the NMFS to release water from state reservoirs “before the end of July to aid endangered fall chinook salmon” says the Idaho Statesman 6/8. Although the proposed release is a “little more front-loaded to July” it would not be “significantly more water” than in the last five years. Without the water release the “number of wild salmon expected to return in 2 and 3 years could be back to critically low numbers” and would “put them at an increased risk of extinction.”
CALL FOR IDAHO WATER SHOWS NEED TO BREACH DAMS
Even in a drought year, there could be enough water for fish and irrigators, if four Snake River dams were breached. But if they aren’t, both will always be at risk. Idaho Falls Post-Register 6/20
BARGES SALMON’S ONLY WAY TO THE SEA
While some salmon are normally allowed past the Snake River dams, because of this year’s drought and the BPA’s refusal to spill any water over the dams, the Army Corps of Engineers is trying to “collect every migrant” and barge them to the Columbia River estuary, says the Tacoma News Tribune 6/12. By this fall, the Corps estimates that it will barge or truck 10.5 million fish, over 2 million less than last year, to the sea but low water has “slowed migration so much that many fish may never reach the dams where they are collected.
RECORD SALMON RUN NOT DUE TO HUMAN EFFORTS
More chinook salmon are returning to northeast Idaho this year than any year since the 1970s, when Snake River dams were built, but the credit goes to high spring runoff the past few years, not human intervention. Spokesman-Review June 12
HOUSE SIGNS ON FOR SALMON RECOVERY
The House has approved a bill that authorizes “$600 million to Western states and Indian tribes” to aid in the recovery of the region’s 26 species of salmon and sea-run trout that are listed under the ESA says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, AP 6/13. If passed by the Senate, states would be eligible for matching federal funds for projects to improve salmon habitat, including revegetation, restoring watersheds and removing roads. The bill was modified to exclude projects involving genetically engineered fish from federal funding.
NORTHWEST CRISIS SHIFTS POWER, SPAWNS REFORM
The West’s energy crisis is an end to an era of public power in the Northwest and the beginning of a new set of economic and political alliances. And at last, salmon may benefit. High Country News; June 19 <http://www.hcn.org/servlets/hcn.Article?article_id=10578>
BPA SAYS NO WATER FOR FISH
The Bonneville Power Administration decided last week that it needs all the season’s meager runoff for power this summer and reserves next winter. Spokesman-Review; July 2
IDAHO FARMERS TO SHUT OFF PUMPS, MAYBE FOR LAST TIME
Nearly 440 of southern Idaho’s biggest farmers have agreed to shut off their irrigation pumps and sell power back to the utility, but some farmers say if electricity rates stay high, the land may never go back into production. Deseret News; July 2
<http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,295008188,00.html?>
SPOKANE PLANNERS WORRY ABOUT DEMAND ON IDAHO AQUIFER
A new generating plant in north Idaho would use about one-third as much water as the city of Spokane, raising fears that area residents may have to choose between energy and water. Spokesman-Review; June 25 <http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=062401&id=s982334>
LISTING DENIED FOR GENETICALLY UNIQUE HERRING
The Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife has released preliminary data that the Cherry Point herring population is a “genetically unique stock that does not appear to intermix with other herring” says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer 5/24. The NMFS recently denied ESA listing despite the fact that it “has been on a nearly continuous plummet toward extinction for almost three decades.” The herring, which is an important food source for salmon and orcas, has different growth patterns from other Pacific herring and spawns “in spring instead of winter.”
SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES
The House Resources fisheries subcommittee held the third in a series of hearings on the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which expired in September 1999. The law, last authorized in 1996, regulates commercial and recreational fishing in federally-controlled ocean waters, and is also known as the Sustainable Fisheries Act. The subcommittee is expected to explore how ecosystem-based fishery management can be integrated into the Act. This concept focuses on habitat and biodiversity rather than traditional individual species management.
CITIZENS PETITION TO LIST GREEN STURGEON
Conservationists want the green sturgeon, “one of the largest and longest fish found in freshwater,” to be given ESA protection says the SF Chronicle, AP 6/11.
The ancient species, over 200 million years old, has declined by 90% and is now found only in California’s Sacramento River, Oregon’s Rogue River and the Klamath-Trinity rivers shared by the two states. “Four of eight species of North American sturgeon” are already listed, with a “fifth protected in certain areas,” and of the remaining green sturgeon “less than 100 spawning females are visiting each breeding ground annually.”
ENTREPRENEURS RUSH TO TAP B.C. STREAMS FOR POWER
Rising power prices have produced a flood of requests to build small hydroelectric generating facilities on B.C. rivers. Vancouver Sun; June 18
ATLANTIC SALMON MAY HAVE FATAL VIRUS
Fishery biologists removed a single wild Penobscot River to a separate pool and are initiating a 28-day cell-culture test to determine if infectious salmon anemia virus is present. A fish was returning from the ocean when Maine Atlantic Salmon fishery biologists removed it from the river for use as brood stock at Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery in East Orland. Forty-two of the 85 wild salmon removed from the Penobscot River this year have undergone the same blood test. This is reportedly the only suspect blood test to date. The screening is preliminary and has been known to produce false results for the virus, according to a press release. The 28-day cell-culture test is the best available science for confirming the presence of the virus. The infectious salmon anemia virus, or ISAv was confirmed in March 2001 in commercial sea-pen facilities in Maine.
The disease can cause death in salmon in salt water, but fishery biologists do not know what effect the disease will have on fish in fresh water.
FISH REINTRODUCED TO TELLICO RIVER
As part of a “major initiative by federal and state agencies and private conservation groups to restore and recover native species in the Tennessee River system,” the USFWS is proposing 6/11 to reintroduce the endangered dusky tail darter, smoky madtom, and threatened yellowfin madtom and spotfin chub to the Tellico River. All the fish will be classified as experimental populations and be subject to special regulations that are less protective.
FLORIDA NO-FISHING ZONE APPROVED
Florida Governor Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet on April 24 unanimously approved a marine preservation plan in the waters off the Florida keys that will create the nation’s largest no-fishing zone.
WTO SAYS IMPORT BAN CAN STAY
The World Trade Organization has ruled that the U.S. can “maintain for the moment its ban on the import of shrimp” that are caught without devices designed to protect endangered sea turtles says Reuters 6/18. The trade dispute has been closely watched as a “test case on whether WTO rules were in conflict with nature conservation.”
WYOMING OFFICIALS QUESTION SAFETY OF DUMPING METHANE WATER
Officials want more study of water discharged from coal-bed methane wells, after noting dying vegetation in what used to be a dry wash. Billings Gazette; June 13
SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT/ARSENIC STANDARD
In a June 8 news release, Senator Domenici expressed concerns about the newly created National Drinking Water Advisory Council Arsenic Cost Working Group set up by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He is worried about fairness, as the Working group members include a private Arizona utility, California surface water users, as well as a “handful of manufacturers,” but “..no representative from New Mexico, Utah, or Nevada, where arsenic is a naturally-occurring substance.”
NATIONAL WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT (NAWQA)
The U.S. Geological Survey has released sixteen summary reports covering various river basins and aquifers under its NAWQA program. Each assessment describes the occurrence and distribution of pesticides, nutrients, industrial and petroleum-based compounds, metals, and radon, as well as the condition of aquatic habitat and fish, insect, and algal communities.
Contaminant sources, land and chemical use, and natural factors are related to water-quality conditions, aquatic life, and stream habitat.
Results help to determine what these conditions may imply for the protection and safety of drinking water, for the health of aquatic ecosystems, and for resource management. Included are assessments covering Central Arizona, the Sacramento River, South-Central Texas, Puget Sound and the Upper Colorado River Basin. Copies of the reports are available online at <http://water.usgs.gov/> nawqa or call (703) 648-5715.
BUSH CUTS MAY CLOSE DENVER ENVIRONMENTAL LAB
A federal lab in Denver that discovered the dangers the gasoline additive MTBE posed to ground water may close its doors under Bush administration cuts. Denver Post; June 11
PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM WETLAND MITIGATION BANKING STUDY
This new study is designed to provide local, state, and federal agencies and organizations with the information they need to achieve regional wetland conservation and land use planning objectives. The Environmental Law Institute’s Wetland Mitigation Banking Study,” is available at <http://www2.eli.org/wmb> under the “Reports & Tools” tab.
SO MUCH FOR VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE
New Jersey’s wetlands protection law is “one of the strictest in the nation” but lax enforcement has allowed developers to continue “destroying the environmentally sensitive areas” says the Boston Globe, AP 6/10. Lawyers agree that the state Dept. of Environmental Protection is “more lax than it used to be” with the number of citations and fines falling from 794 ($208,000) in 1993 to 90 ($76,000) in 1999. Violators “don’t have much respect for the DEP’s enforcement” with developers filling in wetlands despite being refused a permit and simply ignoring fines.
CORPS TO RELAX WETLANDS PROTECTION
The Army Corps of Engineers is moving to “relax a series of year-old rules designed to restrict development and degradation of thousand so streams and other wetlands,” says the Washington Post 6/4. Besides “angering environmentalists,” the plan has drawn “sharp criticism” from other federal environmental agencies.
SCIENTISTS SAY REPLACEMENT WETLANDS DON’T WORK
A program created under the first President Bush, which allowed developers to destroy wetlands if they created others elsewhere, is failing, according to a National Academy of Sciences panel. According the report, many of the substitute wetlands were “delayed or never finished, others “often failed to meet standards” and all failed to “duplicate the ecological functions of the natural wetlands” that were destroyed. New York Times; June 27
ANOTHER STATE REACTS TO ARMY CORPS’ LIMITATION TO PROTECT ISOLATED WETLANDS
Ohio introduces emergency rule, mitigation legislation.
Ohio’s governor signed an executive order on April 17 to implement a new state dredge-and-fill permit program to regulate activities in wetlands of the state. The state also is working on legislation that would require developers proposing activities in isolated wetlands to pay fees to a mitigation bank in lieu of compensation for wetland development. Ohio follows Wisconsin with protection of isolated wetlands.
CORPS TELLS REGIONS TO STOP ACTING LOCALLY
In this interim period between the Supreme Court decision in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and promulgation of national policy guidelines on the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ jurisdiction over isolated waters, the Corps released an internal memorandum to restrict its districts from developing their own operating jurisdictions.
WATER QUALITY INFO
River Network’s Clean Water Project has collected Clean Water Act information from each state. This information includes contacts for water quality standards, NPDES permits, and TMDLs; the dates of last and next triennial reviews; designated uses of state’s waters, and much more. Visit the following page to access this info: <http://www.rivernetwork.org/library/librivcwastate_intro.cfm>
Antidegradation information for the 13 western states is also on their Web site at <http://www.rivernetwork.org/library/librivcwa_antideg.htm> and <http://www.rivernetwork.org/library/librivcwastate_intro.cfm>
TALK TO THE EPA
You are invited to participate in an online public discussion with EPA and panels of experts on improving public involvement in EPA decision-making, July 10 – July 20, 2001.
Because this will be a web-based discussion, you can select the topics that interest you and participate at your convenience. A revolving panel of experts will discuss the main aspects of the draft Public Involvement Policy with each other and with approximately 500 participants. Among the topics that we will discuss are the following:
* Identifying and involving the public, including those hardest to reach;
* Providing information to the public;
* Creating effective public involvement opportunities during rulemaking and permitting; and
* Encouraging collaborative processes
To learn more about the Dialogue and to register to participate visit the Dialogue Web site at: <http://www.network-democracy.org/epa-pip>
For more information: Send e-mail to Patricia Bonner at U.S. EPA: <bonner.patricia@epa.gov> , or Information Renaissance: <epa@network-democracy.org> or call 888 638-5323.
TMDL REPORT
A lack of scientific information is undercutting efforts to halt the flow of bacteria, sediments, pesticides and other pollutants into the nation’s lakes and streams, an advisory council of the National Academy of Sciences concluded in a report issued recently.
The report, by a panel of the National Research Council, questioned the data and methodology underpinning cleanup decisions affecting 21,000 bodies of water around the country. The panel found numerous flaws in the ways states measure the cleanliness of their bodies of water, concluding that efforts to reduce pollution from such sources as industry, farming and urban areas have been widely inconsistent. The scientist who wrote the report recommend that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, charged with regulating water pollution, adapt a more science-based approach in identifying polluted waters and creating cleanup plans. The report also stressed that science is riddled with uncertainty. So the report calls for moving ahead with cleanup plans, reviewing and revising them periodically using new information and techniques. LA Times, 6/18 In an announcement on 6/29, EPA is considering turning over responsibility for the bulk of the nation’s impaired waters program to state water officials as part of a raft of larger changes to its controversial Clean Water Act total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) rule.
EPA ANNUAL UPDATE OF THE NATIONAL LISTING OF FISH AND WILDLIFE ADVISORIES
The 2000 list indicates a 7% rise in fish consumption advisories over 1999. This increase generally reflects more extensive coverage by state monitoring programs, as well as improvements in data collection and monitoring methods. Approximately 23% of the Nation’s lake acreage and 325,500 river miles were under fish consumption advisories during all or part of 2000. All Great Lakes (which are not included in the lake acreage figure) and their connecting waters were also under advisory, as were 71% of coastal waters, including 20 National Estuary Program sites. To view the fact sheet, go to <http://www.epa.gov/ost/fish/advisories/factsheet.pdf>
CANADIANS CONCERNED ABOUT WATER QUALITY
A review by Canadian federal departments finds that an abundance of nutrients is causing problems in Canadian ecosystems and is affecting the quality of life for many Canadians.
FLOODS
Flooding is a natural, healthy occurrence for rivers. Wildlife biologists discuss the occurrence of floods along rivers in the aftermath of recent high water flows on the Mississippi River. Water News Online, June, 2001 <http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcsupply/1flois6.html>
DROUGHT
In response to below-normal rainfall, Maryland Governor Parris Glendening orders state facilities to reduce water consumption by 10 percent and encourages residents to conserve water. U.S. Water News Online, June, 2001 <http://www.uswaternews.com/archives/arcconserv/1gleann6.html>
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT
Presently, there are over thirty-five species of genetically engineered fish being developed around the world and at least one company that is presently requesting approval from the FDA to market genetically engineered fish to consumers as food. The genetically engineered salmon currently being reviewed by FDA is genetically engineered to grow as much as ten to thirty times faster than normal salmon. While no federal laws specifically govern the regulation of genetically engineered animals grown for human consumption, the FDA has made the informal decision to regulate genetically engineered fish under its authority to review new animal drugs.
CONFERENCES
2001 COLORADO WATER WORKSHOP
July 25-27, 2001
Gunnison, Colorado
The theme of this year’s workshop is Who’s in Charge? What forces, trends, and policy shifts are controlling water use? The proposed agenda includes: General changes in federal agencies, policies; Federal Control of Colorado’s Water; State legislature and Executive branch discussions; The judicial role; What is happening at the local level that affects Colorado’s water future?; Ballot Initiatives; and Economic Forces Controlling the Future. For more information contact Lucy High at <water@western.edu> .
MANAGING RIVER FLOWS FOR BIODIVERSITY
July 30 – August 2
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
American Rivers; Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; National Science Foundation; Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District; The Nature Conservancy; Hydropower Reform Coalition; US Bureau of Reclamation; US EPA; US Forest Service; USGS
This conference on science, policy and conservation action is designed for water managers, fish and wildlife biologists, non-governmental organizations, attorneys, river scientists and other consultants influencing water management decisions. Attendees will have an opportunity to examine the real and perceived conflicts between meeting ecosystem needs and human demands for water, discuss the state of science with respect to flow requirements for biodiversity conservation, hear case studies where practitioners are working to meet human demands for water while also providing for ecological needs, and attend an educational field trip to nearby Rocky Mountain rivers.
For more information please contact <nrousmaniere@tnc.org> , 303 541-0344
<http://www.freshwaters.org/conference>
NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for research and educational purposes.
