COAL ASH UPDATE 

The clean water community celebrated a BIG victory recently 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.  

As reported last week, we expect that there will be more attempts on Capitol Hill to add this dangerous industry supported language on coal ash to other bills that have any traction.  We will keep you abreast of developments on this front. We will also be publishing a number of House and Senate voting charts later this week on several key bills and riders including ones on coal ash.  

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow aired a segment on her show last week highlighting industry shenanigans that involved fake signatures on pro-coal petitions to the White House. Click HERE to see the show.

Coal Industry Propaganda at its finest:  

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/09/opinion/appalachia-turns-on-itself.html?_r=1&smid=tw-share

Other Links to Coal Ash 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.  

(4) Check out this article about a petition with fake names from China (this was profiled in Rachel Maddow's show last week) from our friends at EIP:

http://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news_reports/06_28_2012.php

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 approved a bill that would 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 by a vote of 26-19, the House Appropriations Committee passed a 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.

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 would be funded at $689 million, a 53% cut from last year.  Stay tuned for more updates on this and other Appropriations bills.

Tri-State Conservation Coalition News (GA, AL & FL) 

Our friends at TSCC have been sharing links to a number of blogs and articles reporting on drought conditions and water battles in their region.

Alabama drought conditions:

http://blog.al.com/wire/2012/07/alabamas_drought_grows_wider_a.html  

How drought conditions have shaped water policy in GA:  

Water Wars Not over: The legal battle over water from Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system appeared to be over after the supreme court refused to hear Florida's latest appeal. But members of Apalachicola Riverkeeper say that may not be the case:

http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/Water_Wars_Not_Over_161379775.html

NRDC Annual Beach Report Released June 27th, 2012 

To access the Natural Resources Defense Council's seminal report, Testing the Waters, click HERE. This guide is must reading for national groups, clean water organizations working on the ground or for anyone visiting a beach this summer.  

Click on the link below to check out coverage on the report: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/27/nrdc-beach-report-repeat-offenders_n_1628604.html

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.  For a copy of this 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 summer enjoying your local waterways!