OLYMPIA, Washington, February 27, 2008 (ENS) – National forest lands in Washington and Oregon will get federal funding to help restore critical and endangered watersheds. Conservation groups say the $8.1 million allocated for this work is only a start and more money is needed to achieve compliance with the federal Clean Water Act. Oregon will…
WASHINGTON, DC, February 26, 2008 (ENS) – Home Depot has agreed to pay a $1.3 million penalty and implement a nationwide compliance program to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act at 34 construction sites in 28 states where new Home Depot stores were built. The U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,…
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania, February 23, 2008 (ENS) – The state Senate Republican Policy Committee this week held a hearing on the cost of cleaning up Pennsylvania’s waterways to meet federal Clean Water Act nutrient reduction requirements for the Chesapeake Bay. The lawmakers noted their disappointment with Governor Ed Rendell, a Democrat, for not including funding for…
OLYMPIA, Washington, February 21, 2008 (ENS) – Although the key definition of whether a pesticide applied to surface waters is, or is not, a pollutant is still to be decided in court, the Washington State Department of Ecology Wednesday reissued a general permit for the application of pesticides to control aquatic weeds in irrigation water…
WASHINGTON, DC, February 4, 2008 (ENS) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is threatening to veto a $220 million Army Corps of Engineers flood-control project in the Mississippi Delta known as Yazoo Pump that environmentalists have long opposed for its adverse impact on wildlife and wetlands. The world’s largest hydraulic pumping plant would be used…
BOISE, Idaho, January 24, 2008 (ENS) – The Tamarack Resort, located 100 miles north of Boise, has agreed to pay a $185,000 penalty to the federal government to resolve breaches of the Clean Water Act arising from stormwater violations discovered on the resort’s property in 2005 and 2006, Today’s agreement also calls for Tamarack to…
WASHINGTON, DC, January 17, 2008 (ENS) – The fourth largest coal company in the United States, Massey Energy, has agreed to pay a $20 million civil penalty to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations at coal mines in West Virginia and Kentucky, the U.S. Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced today. This is the…
DENVER, Colorado, January 20, 2008 (ENS) – Acting without a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit, a contractor excavated a new stream channel on open space property belonging to the City of Lafayette, Colorado without the city’s permission or knowledge. Now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Kenneth L. Schell and Twin Peaks Excavating,…
FORT WAYNE, Indiana, January 2, 2008 (ENS) – The City of Fort Wayne, Indiana has agreed to make an estimated $250 million worth of improvements to resolve longstanding problems with overflows from its sewer system, the U.S. Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced late last week. The improvements are expected to reduce the volume…
ATLANTA, Georgia, January 3, 2008 (ENS) – State agencies from Virginia and Tennessee have signed an agreement with two regions of the federal Environmental Protection Agency to protect and restore the Clinch and Powell Rivers that flow through the two states. On December 21, EPA Regions 3 and 4 signed a memo of understanding with…
BOSTON, Massachusetts, December 31, 2007 (ENS) – A plan by the Northeast states to lower mercury levels in fish throughout New England and New York has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. The plan calls for a 98 percent reduction from 1998 levels of mercury from atmospheric sources in order to make…
TALLAHASSEE, Florida, December 21, 2007 (ENS) – The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, DEP, has identified five groups of waterbodies that are impaired and in need of water monitoring, cleanup and restoration. In the latest round of evaluating impairments in the surface waters of Florida, DEP Deputy Secretary Mimi Drew signed a final order on…
DENVER, Colorado, December 20, 2007 (ENS) – The Avondale Water and Sanitation District in Pueblo County, Colorado is in big trouble with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for illegally rerouting a river. The federal agency has ordered the Avondale district to restore the segment of the Arkansas River it re-engineered. Avondale is located about 50…