HYDROLOGIC REPORT
Due to sublimation (caused by the wind evaporating the snow) much of the moisture in April was lost. The snow water equivalent in Colorado on May 1 was: Gunnison, 72%; Upper Colorado, 74%; S. Platte, 83%; Laramie/N. Platte, 72%; Yampa/White, 69%; Arkansas, 87%; Upper Rio Grande, 114%; and San Miguel/ Dolores/Animas/San Juan, 97%. Reservoir storage is 107% of average in Colorado but only 76% of last year’s storage. Utah’s snowmelt in April was 173% of average indicating reduced projected runoff with current storage in Utah at 85% of average.
CO FISH RESTORATION PROCEEDS
The release of 7,000 bonytail fish into the Colorado River near Grand Junction marked the first time that the Colorado state portion of the river has been targeted by a program to restore four native endangered fish to the river says ENS 4/25.
[Razorback suckers have be reintroduced in the Gunnison River.] The bonytails are among “the rarest fish in the western U.S.” and the release was part of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program that seeks to also restore the Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub and razorback sucker.
COLORADO TO LIMIT RECREATIONAL WATER RIGHTS.
On the final day of its 2001 session, the Colorado legislature adopted a statute (SB01-216) which limits who may apply for and hold water rights for recreational purposes (fish ladders and boat shoots). Pending applications for Golden, Vail, Breckenridge and Aspen. Applications must be reviewed by the Colorado River Water Conservation Board before considered by a water court. The bill establishes new standards for a water court to follow when considering recreational in-channel diversion applications.
The bill also limits recreational rights from being considered as domestic use as described in Sec. 6 of Article XVI of the state Constitution. (This prohibits condemnation of water for recreational use.)
ALP COST-SHARING
An April 27 Federal Register notice says that BUREC will be working in 2001 on Animas-La Plata repayment – cost share contracts for the Animas-La Plata District, San Juan Water Commission, La Plata Conservancy District and State of CO for capital recovery and management of project resources and facilities. These contracts could involve as much as 38,020 af/y. The notice points out that the public participation procedures do not apply to proposed contracts for sale of surplus or
interim irrigation water for a term of 1 year or less. To get a copy of the proposed contracts and get on the mailing list for this process, you need to contact the regional BUREC office in writing, 125 S. State St., Room 6107 Salt Lake City. [It would be helpful for people to ask for public hearings to be held in convenient locations to get a full explanation of the contracts and the process for adopting them.]
BUSH BUDGET WON’T MOVE MOAB TAILINGS
President Bush has included no money to move a huge pile of radioactive tailings on the bank of the Colorado near Moab, Utah, undermining a congressionally approved deal and threatening a massive accident. Arizona Daily Star; April 25
GREEN SPRING BUYS TIME FOR N.M. IRRIGATION REFORM
New Mexico is in the midst of a wet spring, a perfect time to push farmers to install water-wise irrigation systems and to negotiate a solution to species chronically endangered by irrigation practices. Santa Fe New Mexican; May 2
<http://www.sfnewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?brd=2144&pag=460&dept_ID=367951>
COUNTY CHALLENGES ESA ON CONSTITUTIONAL GROUNDS
Okanagan County, WA, is expected to file a lawsuit “in the next two weeks” challenging the constitutionality of restricting “state-granted water rights in the name of salmon recovery” says the Spokesman-Review 4/15. In what could be a “landmark lawsuit,” the county contends that the “shut down” of several irrigation water diversions to protect chinook salmon relies on the “ESA to usurp powers the U.S. Constitution grants to states.” With heavy backing from the agriculture industry, the county has already assembled a “$260,000 war chest” to take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary.
ESA MAY COST
In a case that could affect water wars across the West, a federal court has ruled that the government must pay property owners when it takes water away from them to protect fish listed under the Endangered Species Act. Plaintiffs in the Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District in California argued that by shutting down their water to protect chinook salmon and smelt, the federal government took their property. The case turned on whether the farmers were entitled to payment under the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the taking of private property without compensation. The taking, the farmers argued, was a “physical” taking, not merely a “regulatory” one in which the use of their property was reduced, but not eliminated. In its April 30 decision, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., sided with the farmers. “The federal government is certainly free to preserve the fish,” the court said. “It must simply pay for the water it takes to do so.” <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134291987_water04m.html>
MOST ENDANGERED RIVERS
American Rivers released its 16th annual report, the Most Endangered Rivers of 2001. Each year, American Rivers and dozens of environmental, outdoor recreation, and taxpayer groups team up to release the report — issuing a strong call to action on behalf of rivers across the country facing major threats to their health and crucial turning points in the coming year. The rivers in the US that face the most critical threats this year are:
1. MISSOURI RIVER, Montana, N and S Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri
2. CANNING RIVER, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
3. EEL RIVER, California
4. HUDSON RIVER, New York
5. POWDER RIVER, Wyoming, Montana
6. MISSISSIPPI RIVER, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana
7. BIG SANDY RIVER, Kentucky, West Virginia
8. SNOQUALMIE RIVER, Washington
9. ANIMAS RIVER, Colorado, New Mexico
10. LEWIS RIVER, EAST FORK, Washington
11. PAINE RUN, Virginia
12. HACKENSACK RIVER, New Jersey, New York
13. CATAWBA RIVER, North Carolina, South Carolina
For the full report, visit
<www.americanrivers.org/mostendangered2001/default.htm>
PIPELINE’S WATER WOULD FUEL GROWTH IN UTAH DESERT
A plan for a $400 million pipeline that would move water from Lake Powell to rapidly growing St. George, Utah, represents the next phase of water development in the arid West and a whole new set of environmental and social issues. Christian Science Monitor; May 3
NV STATE HIGH COURT PROTECTS WATER RIGHTS
The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that the water rights of irrigators and ranchers take precedence over threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout says the SF Chronicle, AP 4/11. Mineral County, NV and local environmental groups had argued that the state had a “responsibility” to use some of the irrigation water to “head off an ecological disaster brewing” at Lake Walker which has “dropped 140 feet and lost 74 percent of its volume” since 1882. The court rejected a request for a writ of mandate directing the State Water Engineer to apply the public trust doctrine to Walker River appropriations to protect environmental values at Walker Lake, deferring to the approximately 80-year-old litigation in the multistate case.
<http://www.greatbasin.net/~frankly/lake.html>
Federal water rights are implicated to protect the endangered species and also trust rights of the Walker River Indian Reservation. The Walker River federal district court adjudication arose prior to the McCarran Act granting state courts jurisdiction to adjudicate federal water rights. There has been no assertion by the Nevada Water Engineer of any public trust values in Walker River. Now, if the petitioners in the recent case wish to pursue lake protection, they will need to intervene in the federal case, seeking to impose a nascent state law doctrine in the federal forum. Under traditional abstention, the federal court may certify the public trust question back to the Nevada Supreme Court for a determination of the state law question.
Some of those involved in this case are saying it is time to repeal the McCarran Act. “Federal reserved rights are too fragile and water is too critical an issue to leave to the hostile forums of state courts,” says Jason Spaulding <kenny_lives_76@yahoo.com>
NEVADA WATER MANAGER KEEPS VEGAS WET ENOUGH TO GROW
The general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority has maneuvered bulging Las Vegas out of a water shortage that could have stifled the city’s growth, though critics say she’s delivering precious water to some of the nation’s worst wasters. High Country News; April 10
AZ PROMISES TO FOREGO USE OF SURPLUS
The Arizona legislature has ratified an agreement with the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California which will forego Arizona’s use of surplus water from the Colorado River during the next 15 years. Conditions of that agreement include California’s adherence to the Surplus Criteria and California Colorado River water reduction plan, requiring California to reduce its consumption of the Colorado River to its Compact allocation of 4.4 maf/y.
SHOVEL BRIGADE GOES TO COURT
While a deal between the U.S. Justice Dept. and Elko County, Nevada over opening a road along the Jarbidge River is moving forward, a second case against local Sage Brush vigilantes for trying to open the road without necessary permits is heading to court says the Idaho Falls Post Register, AP 4/5. The deal to settle a lawsuit against the so-called “Shovel Brigade” fell apart after they balked at comments by the USFWS that it was “unlikely” the road could be rebuilt in its present location “without violating federal law protecting the threatened bull trout.”
CHEMICALS COULD HARM ENDANGERED FISH
Researchers are concerned that “chemicals from birth control pills, shampoos and other household items” may be harming some of the Colorado River’s “healthiest populations of the endangered razorback sucker” says the Las Vegas Review-Journal 4/3. The chemicals are being “carried into Lake Mead by human waste” and scientists are testing blood samples from the fish to determine if they are related to “unusually low levels of the male hormone testosterone” found in fish tested last spring.
MWD OKS PLAN TO PUMP DESERT DRY
Southern California’s insatiable Metropolitan Water District has approved a 50-year, $1 billion dollar plan by Cadiz Land Co. to pump water from the Mojave Desert aquifer, “despite concerns that it could exhaust the water supply required to sustain plants and wildlife” says the LA Times 4/11. With scientists unsure of how much water is even in the aquifer and how much is replenished annually by rainfall, the Sierra Club says the pumping plan is “inviting disaster” and could “exhaust the water supply needed to sustain springs vital to the survival of desert tortoises, bighorn sheep and other wildlife.”
MEXICO AND THE U.S. CUT RIO GRANDE DEAL, BUT TENSIONS RUN HIGH AS BORDER WATER RUNS LOW
The thirst for water is growing throughout much of Mexico and the southwestern United States. As demand increases and supplies diminish, governments, farmers, urban planners, and developers are scrambling for ways to access and manage this precious natural resource. As a result, on both sides of the border the water found in rivers and aquifers is becoming not just a resource, but a commodity.
Deciding who has access to that commodity is a source of mounting tension between state and federal governments.
<http://www.us-mex.org/borderlines/>
SOME SEE PARALLEL CRISIS IN CALIFORNIA WATER USE
Neighboring states should learn a lesson from California’s electricity crisis, say some observers: The state has long used more than its share of water and it’s poised to take of cut of its neighbors’. Arizona Daily Sun; April 10
COHO GET THE OLD WAIT AND WATCH
The California Fish and Game Commission has placed coho salmon north of San Francisco Bay on the state’s endangered species candidate list but stopped short of an immediate emergency listing that would have given immediate protection from any taking says the SF Chronicle, AP 4/5. The move begins a year-long status review but would “essentially maintain the status-quo for 120 days for timber companies and landowners” who can continue operations as usual. According to agency biologists the coho have been “declining dramatically over the last 50 years” with numbers at 1% of 1950s levels.
CA COASTAL COMMISSION DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Ruling in a case on the construction of an artificial reef, a California Superior Court judge has declared the state’s Coastal Commission unconstitutional “because it exercises executive, judicial and legislative powers” says the San Jose Mercury News 4/27. The CCC is “largely viewed as among the most powerful” protectors of coastal habitat in the U.S. and both “coastal officials” and environmentalists said the decision is a “fundamental threat to the state’s ability to regulate coastal development. The decision was hailed by private property rights groups.
RUBBER STAMP LANDS CORPS IN COURT
The Army Corps of Engineers has been taken to court for approving several large-scale Newhall Land and Farming Co. development projects along Southern California’s Santa Clara River say the plaintiffs the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Santa Clara River 5/1. The groups contend that an Environmental Impact Statement used to approve the filling of wetlands “showed no impacts to endangered arroyo toads” even though certified biologists have “recently confirmed the existence of arroyo toads” on Newhall lands.
SPAWN OR DIE
Nevada’s Pyramid Lake Piute Tribe is urging the USFWS to release more water into the Truckee River to “prevent a die-off of the endangered cui-ui fish” says the SF Chronicle, AP 4/4. The Service, however, says that releasing water under current drought conditions would result in a dry river this summer with “potentially massive mortality” and that the fish is “healthy enough that loss of a spawn cycle this year would have relatively little impact.”
JUST ADD IT TO THE DAM LIST
Conservationists want the Libby Dam on Idaho’s Kootenai River decommissioned to “help endangered sturgeon successfully spawn” says the Idaho Spokesman Review 4/6. “The fish declined sharply after the dam opened in 1975” and efforts to increase spring flows have not been sufficient to boost spawning success while higher flows in the winter for power generation are harming the burbot, another fish whose ESA listing petition is now before the courts.
DEMANDS MOUNT FOR NORTHWEST’S LIMITED WATER
Northwest consumers have been lucky to avoid blackouts this year, and dam managers face a summer that combines an energy shortage, drought and new demands for salmon recovery. More details in an evolving crisis. Environmental News Network; April 8
<http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/04/04082001/krt_water_42941.asp>
ENERGY CRISIS PROMPTS RUSH FOR HYDROPOWER SITES
So far this year, 13 permits have been filed for new hydroelectric plants on Idaho streams, all of them at existing dams. Idaho Falls Post- Register; April 27
SUCKING SOUND OF SALMON DRAWN INTO TURBINES
A nasty drought and the decision to maximize power generation means that a “large number” of this year’s spring chinook salmon run” will be sucked down into the deadly generating turbines” at 8 hydropower dams on the Columbia and lower Snake rivers says the LA Times 4/10. A Bonneville Power Authority emergency order, expected to be extended “to cover much of the rest of the year,” allows them to give power generation “precedence over water flows needed to carry young salmon safely” by the dams. According to Save Our Wild Salmon, “Idaho Fish and Game is estimating roughly half the migrating salmon won’t even get to the first dam.”
CHINOOK, YOU ARE THE WEAKEST LINK, GOOD BYE
A new study has found that Snake River chinook salmon are the “weakest populations of a run that historically numbered 1.5 million” and “could be essentially extinct in 6 years” says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer 4/25. The study, released by Trout Unlimited, looks at 7 Columbia and Snake river runs and “predicts that unless habitat conditions change,” the weaker runs will be extinct by 2007, while the stronger runs would be “doomed by 2033.” Functional extinction, defined as 100 or fewer returning salmon, would occur for the average runs by 2016.
IDAHO, IT’S A TOUGH ROW TO HOE
While the Pacific Northwest suffers under a near record drought, “many of the reservoirs in the Upper Snake Basin are full or nearly so” of water says the Seattle Times 4/29. And, while salmon recovery plans includes “asking” for twice more upper basin water than “what’s allowed now,” getting help for the endangered salmon means going up against the “region’s most invincible political players: Idaho irrigators, Idaho water law and Idaho Power, the state’s largest utility.” To Idaho farmers it’s an “outrage” that irrigation water is used for anything other than growing potatoes even though “a glut of spuds has depressed potato prices since 1996.”
NORTHWEST CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE SALMON OR FEDERAL POWER SYSTEM
There’s more at stake than fish if the Northwest sacrifices salmon to the current energy crisis; the region could lose its sweetheart deal with the BPA. High Country News; 4/11
EPA & NMFS PUT SALMON IN HOT WATER
A lawsuit by Northwest Environmental Advocates charges that the EPA and NMFS approved “temperature standards” for Oregon rivers that “place already imperiled salmon at greater risk of extinction” says the Salem, OR, Statesman Journal 4/13. According to the group the agencies’ “own scientists” held that the temperature standards “posed unacceptable risks to salmon protected under the ESA.” Too high water temperatures can harm salmon by contributing to “reproductive failure, disease and developmental abnormalities.”
BARGING NO SOLUTION
A plan by 9 federal agencies to use barges to transport salmon around Columbia and Snake River dams is drawing “blistering criticism from a broad spectrum of groups concerned about endangered salmon” says UPI 4/15. Groups representing conservationists and commercial fishermen say up to “95%” of this year’s salmon “run could be lost,” a prospect that would “set back the salmon recovery effort for years to come.”
FEDS PUT ON NOTICE FOR SHIRKING SALMON PROTECTION
Conservation groups have notified the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and warned the NMFS that they will go to court unless the agencies “act immediately to help migrating salmon” survive the drought says Trout Unlimited, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, and Idaho Rivers United 4/19. The coalition is determined to not “just sit by and watch the Bush administration use the current energy crisis to justify cutting conservation measures.”
GROUPS CHARGE SALMON BIOLOGICAL OPINION (BO) FLAWED
A coalition of over a dozen environmental groups is mounting a court challenge to a NMFS BO that they say is a “blank check allowing hydroelectric dams to favor power generation over salmon saving efforts” reports the SeattlePost-Intelligencer, AP 5/4. The groups charge that the BO contains “fundamental scientific and legal flaws that could further imperil struggling species of salmon and steelhead trout” in the Columbia and Snake rivers. While there are many sources of energy, the conservationists say “These salmon only have one river forever.” <http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/21559_salmon04.shtml>
CITIZEN LAWSUITS PROTECT NORTHWEST SPECIES
“The Northwest would be a different place had the changes President Bush proposes for the ESA been in place 10 years ago” says the Spokesman-Review 4/12. It has been citizen lawsuits, “not voluntary government action” that has “led to protection for many species,” including the northern spotted owl, certain salmon, the lynx, bull trout and Kootenai River sturgeon. Even now, conservationists are considering several citizen enforcement suits to protect the Kootenai River burbot and West Slope cutthroat trout that would be negated by the proposed extinction rider. The Intermountain Forest Association, however, says the “timber industry welcomes any changes to limit litigation.”
AGENCIES BLASTED FOR FAILING SALMON
Oregon Governor Kitzhaber broadsided the Bonneville Power Administration and other federal agencies at a meeting of the Northwest Power Planning Council by accusing them of “improperly abandoning their responsibilities to help salmon” says the Oregonian 4/26. The governor accused both the agencies and council of putting power generation before salmon and failing to “utilize all tools at our disposal to continue efforts to restore the health” of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia Basin. Calling federal management of the hydropower system “unacceptable” Gov. Kitzhaber advocated measures such as buying water from irrigators for the fish.
“PULVERIZER” TOPS HIT LIST
A concrete culvert that has “earned a nickname for the way its spits out salmon” is prominent on a list of the 149 culverts in the metro Portland, OR area that are the “worst of the worst” barriers to imperiled fish runs says the Oregonian 5/2. A two-year study looked at 1,400 culverts to determine priorities for fixing those that have the greatest impacts on threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead runs.
DREDGING UP IMPACTS ON FISH -The Army Corps of Engineers is putting up $250,000 to get the some scientific answers on the impacts on salmon of dredging the Columbia River shipping channel says the Columbian 4/7.
After the NMFS withdrew a “1999 biological opinion in support of the project,” the Corps hopes that a series of workshops will resolve the “scientific uncertainty” surrounding that 12 runs of Columbia basin salmon that already “teeter on the edge of extinction” would be further harmed by the dredging. The Columbian 4/25 reported that one such workshop examined how saltwater intrusion from deepening the channel might affect the food chain.
LAWSUIT SEEKS TO OVERTURN KLAMATH PROJECT DECISION: Water users are suing to overturn a court ruling which gives endangered species priority for limited water supplies in the Klamath Basin of Oregon and northern California says the Oregonian, AP 4/10. Biological opinions, sustained by the courts, have determined that because of the region’s drought 90% of the available irrigation water in the Klamath Project must be used to prevent two species of endangered suckers and the threatened coho salmon from being pushed further toward extinction.
KLAMATH ENDANGERED SPECIES HIGHEST PRIORITY
A federal judge has ruled that the “ESA clearly gives threatened and endangered fish the highest priority during this drought” and refused to grant an injunction allowing the limited available water to be used for irrigation says the Oregonian, AP 4/30. The judge also told Klamath basin water users that they were “unlikely to prevail” in their lawsuit and should be seeking a “long-term solution to recurring water shortages” through negotiation. The decision marks the “first time that fish protected by the ESA, commercial salmon fishermen and the Klamath and Yurok tribes have won out” over irrigators since the Klamath Basin Project opened in 1907.
IRRIGATORS IGNORE KLAMATH COURT ORDER
Two irrigation districts have refused to stop diverting water from Klamath Basin reservoirs despite a judge’s refusal to “lift an earlier injunction” designed to protect threatened coho salmon and two species of endangered suckers in a “year of near-record drought” says the Oregonian 4/27. According to GREEN sources, Vice President Cheney personally intervened to pressure the USFWS to change its biological opinion so that some water could be delivered to irrigators. A federal judge, however, ruled the revise operation plan was “insufficient” to protect the coho and barred “any delivery of water” from project reservoirs.
OREGON FARMERS PROTEST WATER FOR FISH
More than 8,000 bucket-wielding sympathizers in southern Oregon protested water reservations for endangered fish that has cut supplies to 90 percent of farmers in one irrigation district. Arizona Daily Star (AP); May 8
FISH THOUGHT TO BE EXTINCT FOUND
In what is being hailed as a “major discovery,” the USFWS has confirmed that the Modoc sucker, “long thought extinct,” has been found in a southern Oregon creek says the Eugene Register-Guard 4/22. Researchers for OSU had known of the fish but misidentified it as the similar looking Goose Lake sucker.
SEA LION SHOOTER GOES TO JAIL
An Alaskan fisherman was sentenced to “almost four years in prison for shooting at least one endangered Steller sea lion” says ENS 4/6. Crew members of the fishing boat reported that the boat’s captain shot at sea lions “up to 30 times” killing at least one.
ALBERTA SHOWS SIGNS OF DROUGHT
Edmonton, Alberta has recorded the driest winter since 1880. Ranchers are moving their herds out of the province to find water, and farmers with water are selling it to those without. Vancouver Sun; May 7
ALBERTA FARMERS PAY DEARLY FOR WATER
Farmers south of Calgary are facing their third straight year of drought and some are selling water rights to their neighbors for four times the cost. National Post; May 2
B.C. SALMON FARMS VIOLATE REGULATIONS, REPORT SAYS
The most comprehensive review of B.C.’s coastal salmon farms has uncovered what investigators say are widespread violations of environmental rules.
Vancouver Sun; April 8
<http://www.vancouversun.com/newsite/news/010407/5052726.html>
PESTICIDE DANGER TO SALMON RECOVERY
Scientists are warning the USFWS, NMFS and Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission that pesticides used by blueberry growers could pose a “potential threat” to wild Atlantic salmon recovery says the Bangor Daily News 4/2. One pesticide, hexazinone, has so intruded in ground water that “it’s coming up through springs” in one of the rivers used by the salmon. The agency is in the preliminary phase of gathering information to develop a recovery plan that will include “site-specific actions to restore the salmon,” costs and recovery goals.
WORLD’S BEST SALMON RUN IN “GRAVE DANGER”
The continued early migration of Adams River sockeye have fishery biologists worried that “world’s best-known salmon run is heading toward extinction” says the Vancouver Sun 4/25. The early migration is exposing the run to a “deadly mix of lower water flows and higher than normal water temperatures” and may be a “bellwether of larger ecosystem problems.
The Pacific Salmon Commission is prepared to close the entire Fraser River fishery this year in an effort to “conserve what’s left of the Adams River sockeye run.”
OFFICIALS CAN’T SAY ARSENIC CAUSES NEVADA’S CANCER CLUSTER
Fallon County, Nev., has an unheard-of rate of child leukemia cases, as well as one of the highest concentrations of arsenic in its drinking water, although health experts likely will never link the two. USA Today; April 12
EPA TO CONSIDER REINJECTING WATER FROM METHANE WELLS
The EPA will study the feasibility of cleaning and reinjecting massive amounts of water from coal-bed methane wells, but Wyoming officials say they’ve already decided the water is safe to pump onto the ground. Billings Gazette; April 13
MONTANA RIVER A TOXIC CONTROVERSY
Montana’s Clark Fork River is contaminated with more than a century’s work of mine waste. In the next few months, the EPA will decided whether or not to remove a dam and the pile of toxic sludge it holds. A national take on a local issue. New York Times; May 7
<http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/07/national/07dam.html>
“BIG MUDDY IS IN BIG TROUBLE”
American Rivers reports that the “Missouri River is dying biologically” and that the debate over how the Army Corps of Engineers manages the river will determine if it is a “healthy habitat” or “sterile shipping channel” says the Des Moines Register 4/11. At stake are plans by the Corps to alter river flows to restore habitat critical to the survival and recovery of the least tern, piping plover and pallid sturgeon.
SHINER CRITICAL HABITAT RECONSIDERED
As part of a lawsuit settlement, the USFWS has agreed to reconsider its decision to not designate critical habitat for the Topeka shiner says the Topeka Capital Journal 4/7. After the fish’s 1999 endangered listing, the agency was pressured by agricultural interests to forgo identifying critical habitat for the shiner which lives in “small tributary streams” in KS, IA, MO, SD, and MN. Water diversions, dams and channelization are credited with reducing the shiner to 10% of its historic range.
STILL PLENTY OF MONEY TO DENY LISTING
While the principal agency for protecting imperiled U.S. plants and animals says it has no money to add new species to the endangered species list, the sicklefin and sturgeon chub clearly indicate that the USFWS still has resources to deny listing for threatened species says Congressional Green Sheets 4/20. Conservation groups had petitioned to have the chubs listed because of threats from continued operation of the Missouri River main stem dams and channelization along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.
TEXAS’ NEW WEALTH MAY BE IN WATER
Texas cities are hurting for water as populations boom, and some landowners are offering to pump billions of gallons of underlying aquifer to the highest bidder. New York Times; April 16
WATER EXPORTS FIGHT TIDE OF CANADIAN SENTIMENT
Exporting water could bring Canadian provinces a windfall that could send every kid in Newfoundland, for example, to college for free. But the concept is Canadian heresy. Christian Science Monitor; April 16 <http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/04/16/fp7s2-csm.shtml>
SMALLER STREAMS VITAL IN REMOVING WATER POLLUTION
Streams play a bigger role than previously thought in removing pollutants before they get to larger waterways, scrubbing as much as half of the excess nitrogen from fertilizer runoff and auto emissions.
A nationwide study of 12 streams found that the smaller the stream – with its shallow depth and high surface-to-volume ratio – the more quickly nitrogen was removed, scientists said in the latest edition of the journal Science. One of the study’s 15 co-authors, said the finding could have important implications for land-use policies. He said human efforts to control streams by covering or channeling them have made them less effective at nitrogen removal. Streams remove nitrogen by providing a habitat for nitrogen-absorbing organisms and by releasing nitrogen from the water into the atmosphere. The scientists studied streams in Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico and Tennessee.
They dripped trace amounts of ammonium – a form of nitrogen – into the streams and measured how much of it was absorbed by plants and animals and how much stayed in the water and was washed downstream. The researchers sampled water, algae and other plant life, bacteria, fungi and insects for six weeks at each site.
BUDGET PROPOSAL
EPA cuts overall enforcement budget by 9%, from $160 million to $149 million. While the proposed budget decreases enforcement funding for EPA headquarters and regions, it establishes $25 million for state enforcement grants. Bush seeks $850 million for the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund. Last year EPA received $1.35 billion for the SRF. The budget request for Water Quality Monitoring/ Assessment is level with last year’s $11.3 million.
The Interior budget cuts the US Geological Survey by $70 million, hitting water programs the hardest including, decreasing the budget for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) by $20 million or 32%, eliminating the Toxics Substances Hydrology Program and reducing the streamgauging activities by $5 million. The Department of Agriculture’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is maintained at last year’s level, $174 million. The Army Corp’s budget is being decreased by 14 percent. The various budgets can be viewed at:
<http://www.usgs.gov/budget/2002/>
<http://www.epa.gov/ocfo/>
<http://www.usda.gov/special/budget/budget2002.htm>
SLIGHT OF HAND IN THE BUSH BUDGET
President Bush’s budget request cuts the Land, Conservation, Preservation and Infrastructure Improvement (LCPII) fund by $250 million. LCPII funds go to the conservation of wildlife, endangered species, and wetlands; rehabilitation of urban parks; preservation of historic treasures; and aid to states to assist in smart-growth planning. LCPII, which evolved out of negotiations over CARA, started last year with a budget of $1.6 billion and was scheduled to increasing by $160 M per year to reach $2.4 B in 2006. For FY02, Bush is requesting $1.51 B for LCPII instead of $1.76 B. His budget then takes the “extra” money and pads the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) to support claims that he is fully funding LWCF. However, the budget plan then allows the “additional” money allocated to the states via LWCF to be used for programs covered by LCPII instead of being used for land purchases as originally intended. To keep his promise to fully fund LWCF and honor the commitment made to LCPII last year, Bush would have to request a total increase of $550 M for these programs. The president’s budget also ends the Wetlands Reserve Program, which pays landowners to set aside some of their land for fish and wildlife. In 2001, the program is expected to use $164 million to protect 140,000 acres of wetlands.
BUDGET INCLUDES PLANS TO CUT EPA ENFORCEMENT
The Bush budget also outlines plans to reduce the EPA’s budget by $10 million and start shifting enforcement of pollution laws to states. Washington Post; April 10
<http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62130-2001Apr9.html>
BUSH’S ROLLBACKS ANGER, SCARE ENVIRONMENTALISTS
Environmentalists say the Bush administration rollbacks of mining, salmon, national forest and water quality rules are their worst nightmares. A wrap-up, with a focus on an Arizona mine. High Country News; April 10
INFRASTRUCTURE
The Water Infrastructure Network (WIN) report finds there is a $23 billion per year gap between infrastructure needs and current spending. The report calls for a five-year, $57 billion federal investment in drinking water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure to replace aging pipes, upgrade treatment systems, and continue to protect public health and the environment. For more, go to:
<http://www.house.gov/transportation/ctisub5.html>
CLINTON’S WETLANDS RULE UPHELD.FOR NOW
The EPA and the White House said that they would leave in place a Clinton administration rule that would expand protection for tens of thousands of acres of wetlands across the United States. The rule was to have taken effect on Feb. 17, but had been set aside for 60 days as the Bush administration reviewed last-minute regulations issued by the Clinton administration. The new rules require developers and mining interests to obtain a permit before carrying out earth-moving activities such as draining and excavation wetlands, digging of artificial lakes and converting streams into manmade channels.
A challenge to the rule by the National Association of Home Builders is pending in Federal District Court in Washington. A spokesperson for the Association expressed disappointment at the wetlands ruling and predicted that the courts would uphold the developers’ challenge, as they have twice since 1997 in striking down efforts to close the legal loophole.
Daniel Rosenberg, a staff lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the decision today represented “a victory on its face.” But Mr. Rosenberg added, “The real key is going to be whether they vigorously defend this rule against the industry challenge and implement it on the ground, and we are still very concerned about the potential for them to ultimately weaken the rule based on a sweetheart settlement to industry challenges.” AP 4/16/01
STATES INTRODUCE WETLAND PROTECTION BILLS AND RULES AFTER SWANCC RULING
In a response to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wisconsin approved a bill that incorporates into state law the content of some of the federal provisions governing the issuance of discharge permits called into question by the Supreme Court decision protecting its intrastate wetlands. In Nebraska, the state legislature will decide on a bill that was drafted to ensure state jurisdiction over wetlands that could be left unregulated by the Supreme Court decision. In South Carolina, the Department of Health and Environmental Control released emergency rules to reassert state jurisdiction over isolated wetlands.
MASSACHUSETTS RELEASES NEW BEAVER GUIDANCE
The MA Legislature issued new guidance, following an amendment to the commonwealth’s Wetlands Protection Act to regulate beaver and muskrat trapping in or near wetlands.
NEW LAKENET WEBSITE FEATURES
Check out new features at the LakeNet website which include: lake-related conferences and lake-related jobs
<http://www.worldlakes.org>
THE GEOLOGY OF THE SALTON BASIN-COLORADO DELTA REGION
This metasite gives data, maps, resources, and educational text on the landforms and subsurface geology of the Salton Sea region.
One link takes users to an extensive (although not hyperlinked) bibliography on the geology of Riverside and Imperial County. Other links include sections of a monograph with color photos and text describing the geology of California’s Imperial Valley, including sections on the Salton Sea, Ancient Lake Cahuilla, and the Coachella Aquifer, among others, a color map and text on active faults of southern California (from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab), and the natural history of the Algodones Sand Dunes and the Imperial Sand Dunes (from the US Bureau of Land Management). A link to a short Desert Glossary rounds out the site.
<http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/salton/geology_of_the_salton_basi.htm>
NOAA’S DROUGHT INFORMATION CENTER
The Drought Information Center metasite serves as a gateway to NOAA’s (and other) online resources on drought and climate conditions. From the US Drought Monitor (current assessment of drought status), to the Palmer Drought Severity Index, to paleo perspectives on North American drought, this site covers background information, current updates, and future predictions on droughts.
<http://www.drought.noaa.gov/>
HEALTHY WATERSHED
The next offering of the Healthy Watersheds: Community-Based Partnerships for Environmental Decision Making (also called the Watershed Partnership Seminar) will be held on June 4-14, 2001 in Aurora, CO (near Denver) at the Office of Personnel Management ‘s (OPM’s) Western Management Development Center.
This course is cosponsored by EPA’s Watershed Academy. For more information on this course, including online registration, visit OPM’s web site at:
<http://www.leadership.opm.gov/np57.html#key>
MANAGING RIVER FLOWS FOR BIODIVERSITY
A Conference on Science, Policy and Conservation Action Colorado State University, Fort Collins (CO) 7/30 – 8/2, 01
A diverse partnership of government agencies, non-profit organizations, and representatives of water users are convening a conference to address the issues of ecologically sustainable water management. The goals of this conference are to: (1) provide attendees with a better understanding of the nature of the conflict between meeting ecosystem needs and human demands for water, both in terms of quantity and quality; (2) explain the state of ecological science concerning the flows required to protect biodiversity; and (3) discuss case studies which address inherent conflicts and potential solutions as a means of engaging in interdisciplinary dialogue. The case studies include: Upper Colorado River Basin, Missouri River, Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, Sacramento/San Joaquin BayDelta System, Klamath River, Zion National Park, Trinity River, Beaverkill River, San Pedro River, Roanoke River, as well as examples from Brazil and Africa. This four-day conference will be open to 350 attendees from diverse professional and academic backgrounds. To get more information and to register for this conference, please visit <http://www.freshwaters.org/conference>
