WASHINGTON, DC, June 30, 2008 (ENS) – The Washington state Congressional delegation has introduced legislation in the House and the Senate that would be a new source of grant funding for water quality and stormwater discharge projects in the Puget Sound area of northwest Washington.

Congressman Norm Dicks and Senator Maria Cantwell introduced the Puget Sound Recovery Act of 2008 on Wednesday, which will establish a distinct office within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate the expanded efforts to address pollution impacts on Puget Sound.

“As the nation’s second largest estuary, Puget Sound has a regional impact affecting four million area residents and sustaining a broad array of aquatic species,” said Dicks, who serves as the chairman of the House Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee.

In that post, Dicks has spearheaded a new effort in recent years to increase the funding for research and remedial actions around Puget Sound, in coordination with the Washington state’s newly formed Puget Sound Partnership, a community effort of citizens, governments, tribes, scientists and businesses to restore and protect Puget Sound.

Puget Sound as seen from the
Seattle Space Needle (Photo
courtesy Wikipedia)

The Puget Sound Region is centered on Seattle and Tacoma and consists of nine counties, four satellite cities, and two major ports.

The Puget Sound Recovery Act, H.R. 6364, would amend the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to provide assistance for programs and activities to protect the water quality of Puget Sound.

The bill would establish a Puget Sound office within the EPA that would have oversight responsibility for the cleanup actions on the Sound, including the development of a comprehensive action plan. The bill also authorizes grants to local communities to study the causes of water quality problems.

In addition, it authorizes grants for targeted remedial actions to counter these threats, as well as grants for sewer and stormwater discharge projects.

“Puget Sound is one of the most important waterways in the United States and is critical for the health of Washington’s economy and environment,” said Senator Cantwell. “However, the declining health of the Sound is putting this at risk.”

“By taking this step to help protect Puget Sound, we are helping the four million Americans who benefit from recreational and environmental opportunities, supporting $20 billion in economic activity annually,” the senator said.

Building upon Puget Sound cleanup efforts already underway at the local and state levels, the increased federal response authorized by the Puget Sound Recovery Act will be a model of scientific integrity, coordination between federal, state, local and tribal governments, and demonstrable achievement that is transparent and open to public scrutiny.

Area congressional representatives from the Puget Sound region – Representatives Jay Inslee, Rick Larsen, Brian Baird, Jim McDermott, Dave Reichert, and Adam Smith – all have joined as original co-sponsors of the legislation in the House.

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Senator Patty Murray of Washington has co-sponsored the Senate version of the bill.

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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 conveyance systems.

The permit covers 16 irrigation districts that use pesticides to control aquatic weeds and algae growth in irrigation systems. The permit is required by the Washington State Water Pollution Control Act.

Ecology’s updated permit tightens the limit for the discharge of copper from irrigation systems. Copper kills aquatic weeds, however it also harms fish and other forms of aquatic life. Copper can damage the function of fish gills. It also interferes with the ability of migratory salmon and steelhead to find their spawning streams.

The permit also provides specifics to irrigation districts that use pesticides about where they should monitor water quality.

Any short term toxicity to aquatic organisms is allowed under the terms of the permit and the water quality modification provisions to perform essential activities that promote effective water delivery.

This permit does not authorize a violation of the surface water quality standards, or any other applicable state or federal regulations. Ecology may require any person seeking coverage under this permit to obtain coverage under an individual permit instead.

The determination of whether or not a pesticide is a pollutant under the Clean Water Act is still before the courts.

On November 21, 2006, the U.S. EPA issued a final rule entitled “Application of Pesticides to Waters of the United States in Accordance with FIFRA [Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act].”

This rule replaces the draft interpretive statement the EPA issued in 2003 concerning the use of pesticides in or around waters of the United States.

The EPA rule states that any pesticide meant for use in or near water that is applied in accordance with the EPA-issued FIFRA label, is not a pollutant under the Clean Water Act. Therefore, such applications are not subject to NPDES permitting.

The rule has been appealed and will be heard in the coming months by a U.S. District Court.

After the EPA issued this rule, the Department of Ecology met with stakeholders to seek input on how Ecology should regulate the use of pesticides until the rule appeal concludes. Ecology also provided the public with a three week comment period.

Stakeholders affiliated with each of the seven affected permits – mosquito, noxious weed, aquatic plant and algae, irrigation, oyster growers, fish management, and invasive moth – sent comments to the Department of Ecology. The majority of comments requested that the state agency continue issuing joint NPDES/state permits to regulate aquatic pesticide applications.

The Department of Ecology warns users that any application of pesticide to surface waters of the state requiring NPDES permit coverage that is found not to be covered under either the general permit or an individual permit may be subject to potential enforcement action.

The new permit replaces and revokes the permit Ecology issued on April 10, 2002, and that expired on May 10, 2007. The official title of the revised permit is Irrigation System Aquatic Weed Control National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and State Waste Discharge General Permit.

The permit and a 54 page fact sheet are available here [www.ecy.wa.gov].

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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 mercury levels in fish low enough for the states to lift fish consumption advisories.

On October 24, the six New England states and New York state jointly submitted to the U.S. EPA a cleanup plan to reduce mercury entering into the states’ waters.

The plan, the Northeast Regional Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load, TMDL, was a collaborative effort between New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission and the states.

Atmospheric deposition of mercury originates from both natural sources and human activities. Natural sources of mercury include volcanoes, forest fires, and geologic deposits. Human sources include coal-fired power plants, municipal waste combustors, sewage sludge incinerators, and residential heating.

Based on recent research, this TMDL attributes 75 percent of mercury deposition in the region to human activities.

Although the vast majority of mercury in Northeast waterbodies is due to atmospheric deposition, about two percent comes from wastewater effluent. The sources of mercury in wastewater include dental amalgam and household use of products containing mercury.

The Brayton Point power plant
in Massachusetts burns coal,
oil, and natural gas. (Photo
by Alexey Sergeev)

For several years the Northeast has experienced elevated levels of mercury in certain fish species that have resulted in thousands of fish consumption advisories at lakes and rivers across the region.

The approved plan addresses the requirements of the Clean Water Act that require states to develop pollution budgets, or Total Maximum Daily Loads for polluted waters.

To establish the mercury reduction targets each state analyzed fish tissue, evaluated information on atmospheric sources of mercury and estimated the level of reduction needed to meet the target levels in fish.

Approving the plan on December 27, the EPA said that, “Given the consistency of mercury levels in fish throughout the region, and the regional consistency of mercury inputs from the atmosphere, the collaborative approach among the states is a logical and effective way to address the problem.”

The establishment of this mercury reduction plan builds on a number of on-going efforts by the Northeast states to lower mercury levels.

In their plan, the states said they are committed to reducing all in-state sources of mercury. “As a result,” they said, “regional mercury emissions have decreased by approximately 70 percent between 1998 and 2002. This reduction was achieved primarily through stringent emission limits on municipal waste combustors and medical waste incinerators.”

The Northeast states are continuing to make reductions through implementation of legislation to address sale and disposal of mercury-containing products, installation of dental amalgam separators, and emissions controls on coal-fired utilities.

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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, December 13, 2007 (ENS) – Merck, the global pharmaceutical research company, has agreed to resolve violations of federal and state water pollution control regulations arising from spills of pollutants at its pharmaceutical plant outside of Philadelphia. The spills entered a waterway that supplies 40 percent of Philadelphia’s drinking water.

In one of the most comprehensive remediation settlement agreements for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Merck will pay $10 million to deploy systems that will prevent future discharges of pollutants from the facility, federal and state officials announced today.

A consent decree filed in court requires Merck to pay $1,575,000 in penalties and civil damages for past violations and spend at least $10 million to implement increased monitoring, tracking, testing and assessment tools for its waste stream.

In addition, Merck will spend about $9 million for environmental projects to improve water quality and/or protect Wissahickon Creek as a source of drinking water.

“Perhaps more than anything else, this settlement says to every company that discharges dangerous chemicals as part of its operations that it is accountable to the environment and the community,” said Pat Meehan, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

“Because when you get right down to it,” he said, “no one should have to wonder, when they walk into the kitchen for a glass of water, if what they are about to drink is going to make them or their children sick.”

“Merck’s actions led to an extensive fish kill and caused the Philadelphia Water Department to temporarily shut down its drinking water operations,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ronald Tenpas. “This settlement ensures that Merck will take steps to prevent future illegal discharges including installing an early warning system to protect drinking water.”

The Merck facility, a pharmaceutical plant located in West Point, Pennsylvania, houses pharmaceutical and vaccine research as well as the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products and vaccines.

Spread across 400 acres, the facility’s 110 buildings are used by 8,500 employees. Merck discharges pollutants from this facility to the Upper Gwynedd Township Publicly Owned Treatment Works. The treated effluent is discharged into the Wissahickon Creek, a tributary of the Schuylkill River.

Wissahickon Creek is a tributary of the Schuylkill River (Photo credit unknown)

The federal court complaint, filed today, along with the settlement papers, alleges that Merck violated the Clean Water Act with several discharges that caused numerous violations at the treatment works.

On June 13, 2006, a Merck employee ignored company protocol and disposed of potassium thyocyanate by dumping it down a drain. The chemical reacted with the chlorination at the treatment plant and after discharge caused extensive fish kills in the Wissahickon Creek on June 14 and 15.

This discharge also caused the Philadelphia Water Department to close its Schuylkill River drinking water intake on June 14 and 15.

It also caused the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to issue health advisories to ban all recreational uses on the Wissahickon Creek from June 14 through July 10, 2006.

On August 8 and 9, 2006 Merck discharged a large batch of spent substrate used for vaccine production, and the following week discharged cleaning agents. Passing through the treatment works, these discharges caused large amounts of foam to enter the Wissahickon Creek.

“This is a prime example of how natural resources can be taken away by big dischargers. There is no excuse in this age of technological advance for Merck to release this dangerous chemical and for it to go undetected through the Upper Gwynedd wastewater plant,” said Maya van Rossum, the Delaware Riverkeeper.

The proposed consent decree includes interim measures undertaken already to prevent discharges without pre-approval; create a tracking system for waste handling; create a task force to assess the system throughout the facility, and impose increased testing and assessment tools for the waste stream.

The decree contains Merck’s commitment to long term remedial measures that include a prevention program; an enhanced wastewater management program; and a chemical management accountability system for the facility.

Merck has committed to restoration of a segment of the Wissahickon Creek to improve the water quality of this key tributary of the Schuylkill River. The company will create a wetlands on a 10 acre parcel of property adjacent to the creek.

Merck will purchase and install an aquatic bio-monitoring system that monitors fish activity to give the Philadelphia Water Department an early warning system on materials in the Wissahickon Creek that may threaten drinking water quality.

In addition, the decree calls for Merck to contribute $4.5 million toward the purchase of a parcel of land adjacent to the creek that will have restricted use and open space easements in perpetuity.

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