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"Hang on to your britches.....it's time for an overhaul!"
Water Polluters Beware: EPA Plans to Enforce Clean Water Act
WASHINGTON, DC, October 15,2009 (ENS) - At a Congressional hearing today held to mark the 37th year since passage of the Clean Water Act, U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced that the agency is stepping up its efforts to enforce the law. 
"Data from the EPA shows that many major facilities with Clean Water Act permits violate their permits over and over again, apparently with no fear of retribution," said Eddie Bernice Johnson, who chairs the committee's Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. Data also shows that "many major facilities with Clean Water Act permits violate their permits over and over again, apparently with no fear of retribution,"
 The plan Jackson announced today outlines how the EPA will strengthen the way it addresses current water pollution challenges caused by numerous, dispersed sources, such as concentrated animal feeding operations, sewer overflows, contaminated water that flows from industrial facilities, construction sites, and runoff from urban streets.
"The safety of the water that we use in our homes - the water we drink and give to our children - is of paramount importance to our health and our environment. Having clean and safe water in our communities is a right that should be guaranteed for all Americans," Jackson told a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing. MORE |
USGS Georgia Water Science Center E-News
Streamgages Podcast
The USGS has just released an informational online podcast called "Streamgages: The Silent Superhero" that you may find interesting. The USGS Georgia Water Science Center, in cooperation with many Federal, State, and local agencies, operates nearly 300 real-time streamgages across the State. These streamgages provide the latest river levels and streamflows each hour automatically to the USGS NWISWeb pages at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ga/nwis/rt
 The data provided by these streamgages have been critical throughout the recent prolonged drought as well as the historic floods this past spring in South Georgia as well as the epic floods in the metropolitan Atlanta area this September. If you have any questions regarding the USGS streamgaging program in Georgia, please contact Brian McCallum at (770) 903-9127 or via email at bemccall@usgs.gov
To view the podcast, please click on the following link: http://www.usgs.gov/corecast/details.asp?ep=106 |
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Georgia EPD Enforcement
 Project: Will Hunter Road land disturbing activitySite/Athens: order issued to Mr. Warren Blackmon
Location: Clarke County
Order Number: EPD-WQ-5141
Date of Issue: October 05,2009
Cause of Order: Buffer encroachment; diverted stream(unknown tributary of Middle Oconee River); County placed stop work order on LDAs
Requirement(s) of Order: Submit appropriate Stream Buffer Remediation Plan, to include restoring and diverting state waters back into original stream channel, restoring 25 ft buffer, stabilizing, revegetating disturbed land; upon approval, implement plan; no future LDAs within buffer unless buffer variance is issued by Director;
Settlement Amount: $5,000.00
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EPA Enforcement 
Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Environmental Crimes
 WASHINGTON - Larkin Baggett, 54, was sentenced to 20 years in U.S. District Court for illegally dumping pollutants in violation of federal clean water and hazardous waste regulations and for illegally possessing firearms and aggravated assault on law enforcement officers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice announced.
This includes the maximum jail term for the Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations. Last March, Baggett assaulted EPA and other law enforcement officers when they attempted to arrest him in Marathon, Fla.
Baggett owned and operated Chemical Consultants, Inc., a company that mixed and sold chemical products used in the trucking, construction, and concrete industries.
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