[NYTr] Pollution pouring into nation's waters far beyond legal limits

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Steven L. Robinson - activ-l

San Francisco Chronicle - Oct 12, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/12/MNIPSOF76.DTL

Pollution pouring into nation's waters far beyond legal limits

Zachary Coile, Washington Bureau

Washington -- More than half of all industrial and municipal facilities
across the country dumped more sewage and other pollutants into the
nation's waterways than allowed under the Clean Water Act, according to
a report released Thursday by an environmental group.

California was among the 10 states with the highest percentage of
facilities leaking more pollutants into waterways than their Clean
Water Act permits allow, according to data from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency obtained by the environmental group, U.S. PIRG.

California also had the dubious distinction of having the most
large-scale violations - or "exceedances" - of Clean Water Act permits
of any state. The large-scale violations are those that exceed the
permitted level by at least 500 percent.

Environmentalists said the figures show that industrial plants and
municipal wastewater facilities continue to flout the law because of
insufficient policing by federal regulators.

"The bottom line is the Bush administration isn't doing enough
enforcement of the Clean Water Act," said Christy Leavitt, clean water
advocate for U.S. PIRG, a federation of state Public Interest Research
Groups.

EPA officials defended the agency's record, saying they had taken
enforcement actions resulting in $8.8 million in fines last year for
those caught violating the Clean Water Act.

'Strong enforcement' "We will continue to aggressively enforce our
nation's environmental laws through effective compliance assistance and
a strong enforcement program," EPA spokeswoman Roxanne Smith said.

In Northern California, the cities of San Francisco, South San
Francisco, Pacifica, Sausalito, American Canyon, Manteca, Stockton and
Watsonville reported exceeding their permits to discharge pollutants
into local rivers, creeks or the bay during at least six of the 12
reporting periods in 2005, according to U.S. PIRG.

Chevron's refinery in Richmond also dumped more mercury and other
pollutants into San Pablo Bay than allowed under its permits during
half of the reporting periods in 2005.

Chevron spokesman Alex Yelland said the San Ramon-based oil giant is
still studying the report's findings but insisted the company is
"committed to the highest standards of environmental stewardship."

The report was based on EPA data obtained through the Freedom of
Information Act for 2005, the most recent year available. Among the
major findings:

-- 3,600 major facilities nationwide - 57 percent of all facilities that
must report to EPA - exceeded their Clean Water Act permits at least
once in 2005.

-- The average violation was almost four times the legal limit of what
can be dumped into waterways.

-- 628 facilities violated their Clean Water Act permits for at least
half of the monthly reporting periods, and 85 sites exceeded their
permits during every reporting period.

The report's authors said the survey probably underestimates the problem
because it looked only at data from major facilities, not smaller sites
that also pollute.

Scientists and regional regulators say the water quality has improved
in San Francisco Bay and other local waterways because of tougher
regulations that followed the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972.

Jay Davis, lead scientist for the regional monitoring program at the San
Francisco Estuary Institute, said those rules have largely solved
problems with organic waste and nutrients that have led to algae blooms
and oxygen depletion in other bays worldwide. But San Francisco Bay
still faces problems with industrial toxins - mercury, PCBs and the
chemical in flame retardants, PBDEs - which threaten the health of
humans and wildlife.

"The bay is doing pretty well," Davis said, "but there are toxic
pollutants entering the bay, some of them coming through wastewater
treatment plants, a lot of pollutants coming from sources like urban
runoff and atmospheric deposition. A lot of pollutants flow in from the
Central Valley through the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River."

The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board is the key
local regulator, leading efforts to limit storm water runoff and
nonpoint source pollution. The agency can levy administrative fines and
refer cases to state or federal prosecutors. But the EPA is chief
enforcer of the law.

With recent budget cuts at EPA, U.S. PIRG's Leavitt complained, "there
aren't enough cops on the beat."

Environmentalists are trying to drum up attention about the Clean Water
Act, focused on the 35th anniversary of the law. It was passed by a
Democratic Congress and signed by Republican President Richard Nixon on
Oct. 18, 1972.

While all sides agree that the act has improved water quality across the
country, the Bush administration has narrowed the law's reach with new
regulations. The law's backers have also clashed with the White House
over funding to help communities upgrade their sewage treatment systems.

'The job is still immense'

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., the chairman of the House Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee, who attended a Capitol Hill news
conference Thursday to release the U.S. PIRG report, said the act has
improved most waterways. But he added that one-third of U.S. surface
waters don't meet federal water quality standards.

"The job is still immense," Oberstar said.

House Democrats are pushing a bill to strengthen the federal
government's ability to regulate U.S. waterways. It's partly a response
to the Supreme Court's recent decisions in two wetlands cases that
limited the government's authority under the act.

Water agencies and environmentalists are also urging Congress to put
more money into the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund, which helps
states pay for new wastewater facilities, pollution controls and
estuary management.