Clean Water Network
E-Bulletin 5/15/12 
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This News Update includes:
Special Logging Road Pollution Alert;
Update on Coal Ash; and
Information on American Rivers' most endangered rivers list.

Also check out a new fact sheet by Clean Water Network and Appalachian Voices, entitled:
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Reminder: It is now that time of year to renew your Clean Water Network Membership Dues. To get more information on membership dues including a suggested dues chart based on annual budgets please click HERE. To make a dues payment click HERE to give today. You can also purchase Father's Day clean water t-shirts by clicking HERE.  
Clean Water Network has been working hard for twenty years, fighting for clean water! Help CWN continue its work by contributing today.
 
Thanks for everything you do to protect our country's precious water resources. 
Natalie U. Roy
Executive Director
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Clean Water Network's POWER OF WATER NEWS ALERTS
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Special Alert on Curbing Logging Road Pollution 

from our friends at the Washington Forest Law Center:

 

We need your help!

  

This summer promises to be a busy time for those working to curb logging road pollution.

 

In May 2011, in a case called Northwest Environmental Defense Center v. Brown, the Ninth Circuit ruled that EPA regulations require Clean Water Act NPDES permits for polluted stormwater discharged from pipes, ditches and channels along logging

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Photo by Pacific Watershed Associates 
roads.  Logging road pollution is one of the more widespread and harmful sources of stormwater pollution in the West.

  

In response to the NEDC v. Brown decision, EPA recently sent a draft notice of intent to regulate logging road pollution to the White House Office of Management and Budget.  Although details are not yet public, in a press release EPA stated that it "is considering flexible options including non-permitting options that recognize the vastness, diversity, and complexity of the nation's logging road network and existing effective federal, state, local, and tribal best management practice frameworks."

 

take actionPlease email EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and President Obama and ask them to ensure that industrial logging road pollution remains regulated under the Clean Water Act's NPDES permit program. Tell them you oppose efforts to exempt the timber industry and logging roads from the Clean Water Act.

 

Click HERE to email EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.

 

Click HERE to email President Obama.

  

Read an excellent fact sheet on this topic from our friends at Rogue Riverkeeper HERE. 

 

Background:

In September 2011, the State of Oregon and members of the timber industry asked the Supreme Court to review the NEDC v. Brown decision because they do not want to comply with the Act's very effective NPDES permit program.  In December 2011, the Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General to file a brief expressing the federal government's views on the case.  EPA's recent notice comes just before the federal government is expected to file its brief on May 25.  EPA's action could have a significant impact on how logging road pollution is regulated in the future and whether the Supreme Court takes the case.  Please help us preserve the NEDC v. Brown decision by emailing EPA Administrator Jackson and President Obama.

 

Read the 9th Circuit Court's Opinion and Order.

Follow the Supreme Court proceedings HERE. 

 

Related media:

Learn more about the legal case HERE.

We will send more updates as things  develop over the next few months.

For more information please contact check the Washington Forest Law Center website or contact:

 

Paul Kampmeier, Staff Attorney, Washington Forest Law Center
Phone:  (206) 223-4088 x 4, email:  pkampmeier@wflc.org

   
"Freedom to Dump" Coal Ash Provision Update:
As you know the "freedom to dump" coal ash provision is being debated on Capitol Hill as part of the must-pass Highway bill conference committee deliberations, taking place now!  The "must-pass" transportation bill passed by the House contains a very dangerous amendment that would remove the EPA's authority to issue a health-protective coal ash rule.
coal ash 
Time is of the essence. If your senator is on the list below, please call or email as soon as possible and ask your Senators to oppose Title V, the McKinley (R- WV) coal ash amendment in the House transportation bill. 
 
The message is simple. Urge your Senators to say NO to any amendments that gut federal coal ash protections.  Tell them to protect your health by supporting a transportation bill that creates jobs and safe highways, not one that places American communities at risk.  The transportation bill means safe roads and safe communities. Polluting it with "Freedom to dump" amendments that will poison our communities with coal ash, is unfair to millions of Americans living near these coal ash sites.  It is bad for our precious water resources and for public health!

If your Senator is on the conference committee, it is even more imperative that you contact them. Below is the relevant contact information for Senate members of the committee debating this important issue.  The list includes the email contact for the appropriate staff person as well. 

 

Senate Democrat conferees:
Barbara Boxer (CA): 202-224-3553, lynn_abramson@boxer.senate.gov 
Max Baucus (MT): 202-224-2651, spencer_gray@baucus.senate.gov 
Jay Rockefeller (WV): 202-224-6472, patrick_bond@rockefeller.senate.gov 
Tim Johnson (SD): 202-224-5842, janelle_diluccia@johnson.senate.gov 
Chuck Schumer (NY): 202-224-6542; anne_fiala@schumer.senate.gov 
Bill Nelson (FL): 202-224-5274, sara_gonzalez-rothi@billnelson.senate.gov 
Bob Menendez (NJ): 202-224-4744, hal_connolly@menendez.senate.gov 
Dick Durbin (IL): 202-224-2152, sarah_neimeyer@durbin.senate.gov 

Republican conferees:
James Inhofe (OK): 202-224-472, ruth_vanmark@epw.senate.gov 
David Vitter (LA): 202-224-4623, bryan_zumwalt@vitter.senate.gov 
Richard Shelby (AL): 202-224-5744, andrew_newton@shelby.senate.gov 
Orrin Hatch (UT): 202-224-5251, jared_brown@hatch.senate.gov 
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX): 202-224-5922, david_haines@hutchison.senate.gov 
John Hoeven (ND): 202-224-2551, tony_eberhard@hoeven.senate.gov 

Remember we need you to contact your Senators even if they are not on the lists above.  Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected or click on www.senate.gov and follow the prompts to get contact information. Thank you in advance for contacting your Senators. Please circulate this information including the Fifty Shades fact sheet, widely to your networks and members. 
 
American Rivers Announces 2012 Most Endangered Rivers List!
Check out the 2012 list from our friends at American Rivers and take action now:
  

New Water Documentary, "Last Call at the Oasis" OPENS

last call at the oasis

A new compelling documentary, detailing the global water crisis, was released recently. Our partners at Participant Media asked CWN to get the word out about this important movie. Watch and share the trailer for @Last Call at the Oasis with your networks at http://on.fb.me/LastCallTrailer

  

Welcome Casey Knecht!

Casey was born and raised in Southern California.  He is a junior at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, majoring in Civil Engineering.  He is living in Washington D.C. for the summer while interning with the Clean Water Network.  He is verycasey interested in the environmental impacts of engineering projects and will be researching various fields including coal ash disposal and hydraulic fracturing.  He is excited for this opportunity to learn more about the relationship between engineering, environment, and government.  

 
Check out all of the Clean Water events
happening across the country in 2012 by clicking on Clean Water Network's Google Calendar Here:

  

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