SUCCESS: COAL ASH LEFT OFF TRANSPORTATION BILL
The clean water community celebrated a BIG victory this week when, after months of hard work, Congress left dangerous coal ash language out of the federal transportation package. Clean Water Network worked with a number of sister organizations from across the country to help stop an amendment that would have prevented EPA from ever setting enforceable safeguards for coal ash disposal. CWN participated in numerous call-in, letter writing and twitter campaigns to send a message to Congress to kick coal ash out of the transportation bill and allow the White House to finalize a strong and protective coal ash rule that will safeguard public health and the environment. The message that toxic coal ash should not be allowed to poison our drinking water supplies, must have finally gotten through.
We expect that there will be many more attempts on Capitol Hill to add this disastrous anti-environmental language to other legislation. Any bills that have any traction at all will present opportunities for House coal ash proponents to attach dangerous industry supported language on coal ash. Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman John Mica (Fl) was quoted in the trade press as saying, "Mr. McKinley (the champion of the dangerous coal ash amendment) never stops," Walking back to the House floor yesterday evening, McKinley said, "We're not finished. I can say that. We're not finished."
We will keep you abreast of any and all developments on this front. We will also be publishing a number of voting charts next week on several key bills and riders that we were monitoring. We expect the Senate and House voting charts to be posted on our website next week!
Links, Articles, Sign-On letters, Reports and other materials:
(1) Transportation Bill Language:
http://www.rules.house.gov/Legislation/legislationDetails.aspx?NewsID=888.
(2) Click HERE for a New fact sheet on the dangers from coal ash dumps from Environmental Integrity Project
(3) Coal Ash Hall of Shame list can be found HERE. This list was put together by a number of Stop Coal Ash Team group members. The Hall of Shame lists 260 U.S. House proponents of the industry-sponsored amendment who have nearly 80% of all coal ash contaminated sites and almost 80% of all coal ash ponds in the U.S. in their districts. If someone on the list is your U.S. Representative, please let them know that you disapproval of their decision to not support the health and safety of their constituents.
(4) Check out this article about a petition with fake names from China from our friends at EIP:
http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news_reports/06_28_2012.php
(5) Ecowatch Article:
http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=253780354737991&id=23902671425
(6) For more information on this topic including a copy of CWN's Fifty Shades of Coal Ash fact sheet HERE.
2012 FARM BILL Updates:
For a complete update on Senate Floor action on all amendments that were offered to the Farm bill click HERE.
To access an excellent Senate and House Farm Bill June 20th update from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) please click HERE.
We are expecting the US House to start farm bill debate and proceedings after the July 4th recess. We also expect many if not more of the same onerous provisions we worked hard against in the senate to resurface on the House side. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks!
Other Farm Bill Resources & Information:
Click HERE to download NWF's Fact Sheet on Conservation Compliance
Click HERE to see a collection of Farm Bill fact sheets, articles & sign-on letters on CWN's website.
Good News: Last week the Johanns amendment failed. It was one of the few really horrendous amendments that made it through to the Senate floor for consideration during the Farm Bill debate. Senator Mike Johann's Amendment (D-NE), would have banned EPA from using aerial surveillance to nab violators of the Clean Water Act on concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
The roll call vote is available here: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=2&vote=00159
The Chamliss Amendment, that CWN and a number of groups lead by National Wildlife Federation and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition were supporting, passed by a vote of 52-47! The Soil and Wetlands Conservation Amendment introduced by Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) would modernize the soil and wetland conservation farm bill provisions by reattaching highly erodible land (HEL) and wetland conservation to the receipt of federal crop and revenue insurance premium subsidies. The Soil and Wetlands Conservation Amendment would ensure that taxpayer funds are not rewarding agricultural producers who are draining
wetlands or farming highly erodible land without conservation measures. Thank you letters were sent to the Senate champions and to all of the Senators who supported the amendment. To access the letters and additional Farm Bill information please click HERE.
CWN Signs-on to NAWQA Funding letter
Clean Water Network joined thirty organizations from around the nation in signing a letter urging Congress not to cut funding for the USGS National Water Quality Assessment program. The letter was addressed to Chairman Inouye and Ranking Member Cochran of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, as well as Chairman Reed and Ranking Member Murkowski of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. The letter addresses the 15% reduction in funding for NAWQA proposed for FY2013. To access the letter please click HERE.
FY 2013 Interior Environment Appropriations News
Clean Water Network has joined forces with numerous partner organization to urge House members to oppose any and all dirty water amendments and riders proposed for inclusion in the FY 2013 Interior Environment Appropriations Bill. In addition, we are urging Members of Congress to oppose all anti-environmental provisions already included in the bill as well as those offered as amendments when the bill is considered on the House floor.
The House Appropriations Committee this morning approved a bill to slash funding for the Interior Department and U.S. EPA, while halting agency efforts to regulate greenhouse gases, mining waste and waterways, among many other issues.
With passage of the $28 billion fiscal 2013 bill, Republicans have again aimed to curtail what they argue is rampant and wasteful spending and regulations that they say have draped a wet blanket on the nation's economy.
This week the House Appropriations Committee voted 26-19 to pass the measure that would cut EPA funding 17 percent , dropping it to spending levels last seen in 1998.
As has been reported, we are concerned about dirty water provisions already in the funding bill that would stop EPA from finalizing clean water guidance that will restore protections to rivers, streams and wetlands across the country. We are also concerned about language being introduced that would stop Florida from moving forward on critical numeric nutrients standards to better protect their waterways from toxic algae pollution and about efforts in Congress that would stop EPA from effectively protecting our streams and drinking water sources from factory farm pollution.
CWN has also been involved with numerous letter writing and twitter campaigns regarding the deep funding cuts being proposed for important environmental programs. The bill that was passed this week in Committee, would fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $250 million, $50 million below last year. The Clean Water State Revolving Fund is funded at $689 million, a 53% cut from last year.
We plan to send out a much more comprehensive report and alert on the Bill's funding levels next week during the congressional recess.
New River Network Report
Burning Our Rivers: The Water Footprint of Energy
A new report by River Network provides the first accounting of how much water is used to generate electricity on an average per-kilowatt basis. The report, Burning Our Rivers: The Water Footprint of Electricity found that for every gallon of water used in an average household, five times more water (40,000 gallons each month) is used to provide that home with electricity via hydropower turbines and fossil fuel power plants.
The Burning Our Rivers report summarizes current research on the water consumption of all power production in the U.S., including the water consumption of both non-renewable and renewable energy sources. For a copy of this excellent report click HERE.
Webinar NEWS!
Proposed NPDES Rule Presentation Webinar July 17th
ALL CWN Members & Partners Welcome!
Space is limited so reserve your Webinar seat NOW!
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/351186401
EPA Joined by Clean Water Network, River Network and the Environmental Integrity Project invite you to a presentation on EPA's Proposed NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule. The NPDES e-Reporting Rule is taking advantage of 21st century technologies to improve the availability of NPDES information to the Public, States and EPA through electronic reporting directly from the NPDES permittees. The presentation will include the purpose, public benefits and implementation as well as the schedule for the proposed rule.
Register for Webcast on "USDA's National Water Quality Initiative"
Register at: www.epa.gov/watershedwebcasts
Join the Watershed Academy Webcast on July 10, 2012 from 1:00 -3:00 pm Eastern to learn more about USDA's National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI). USDA's NWQI is focusing on 157 priority watersheds in the U.S. in 2012. These 157 watersheds were identified with assistance from state agencies, key partners, and USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Technical Committees. NRCS will make available at least $33 million in financial assistance to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners this year in these priority watersheds to implement conservation practices to improve water quality and aquatic habitats in impaired lakes and streams. Using funds from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, NRCS will provide financial and technical assistance to producers for implementing conservation practices such as cover crops, nutrient management, filter strips and terraces.
Thanks for all you do to protect our nation's waters! Have a happy and safe July 4th enjoying your local waterways!
