Tag Archive for: Environmental Protection Agency

As West Continues to Confront Devastating Drought, California Attorney General Urges EPA to Expand Clean Water Act Protections for Nation’s Waterways

/in , , /by /Sierra Sun Times

On Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, leading a multistate coalition along with New York Attorney General Letitia James, urged the Biden Administration to repeal a Trump-era rule drastically curtailing protections under the Clean Water Act. Under the 2020 rule, more than half of all wetlands and at least 18% of all streams across the United States were left without federal protections. Western states like California were even harder hit, with 35% of all streams deprived of federal protections as a result of the 2020 rule. In the comments, the coalition supports the Biden Administration’s proposed regulation to restore the 1980s definition of “waters of the United States” and urges the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Army Corps) to take swift action to develop a more expansive definition that is consistent with science and the law, addresses the impacts of climate change, and serves environmental justice communities.

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Drought Exposes ‘Canary in This Coal Mine’ of PFAS in Well Water

/in , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Pat Rizzuto and Bobby Magill

Drought is exposing new layers of risk posed by PFAS contamination in drinking water nationwide, a public health hazard expected to cost billions of dollars and take years to solve, state and federal officials say.

As the historic drought hitting much of the country decreases the flow of rivers and streams, more municipalities are drawing water from underground aquifers and wells. And emerging data shows PFAS contamination could be prevalent in some of those groundwater sources.

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‘Buckle Up’ for PFAS Regulation, Litigation in 2022, Lawyers Say

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Pat Rizzuto

Industries are advised to brace for more federal moves next year to reduce and control “forever chemicals,” including plans by the EPA to propose water and waste regulations for two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

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Soquel Creek Breaks Ground on Water Purification Center

/in , /by /WaterWorld

The Soquel Creek Water District in California held a groundbreaking ceremony last week, commemorating the start of construction on its Advanced Water Purification Center – the core of the district’s Pure Water Soquel Groundwater Replenishment and Seawater Contamination Prevention Project.

 

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EPA Outlines $630M Vision for Curbing Tijuana Sewage Pollution in San Diego

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith

Top federal environmental regulators in California laid out a $630-million plan on Monday to capture and treat sewage-tainted water that routinely flows over the border from Tijuana into Imperial Beach and up the coast.

The blueprint focuses largely on installing a pumping system in the Tijuana River north of the U.S.-Mexico border to suck polluted flows out of the channel before they can foul shorelines in San Diego. Trash booms would be installed directly upstream of the intake.

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EPA to Address Transborder Water Pollution from Tijuana River with Infrastructure Review

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Elizabeth Ireland

The Environmental Protection Agency will move forward with environmental review of several water infrastructure projects intended to address transborder water pollution from the Tijuana River, it was announced Monday.

“In order to protect public health and vital ecosystems in this vibrant area, we need a bold solution to the transboundary water pollution challenge,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox.

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Three Options to Deal With Border Pollution Presented at USMCA Meeting

/in , , /by /Eagle and Timesby Alessandra Selgi-Harrigan

In 2020 the U.S. government through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) committed $300 million in The United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade agreement to identify infrastructure solutions to mitigate the transboundary pollution. Infrastructure solutions for transboundary flows from the Tijuana River have been studied for the past year. The Environmental Protection Agency, which has been tasked with creating solutions, originally proposed 10 possible projects. In time the projects have been narrowed down to three, which were presented during the last virtual public information meeting on Aug. 6.

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EPA Puts Additional Delay On Trump Lead and Copper in Drinking Water Rule

/in , /by /The Hillby Rachel Frazin

The Environmental Protection Agency has put another delay on a Trump-era update to a rule governing lead and copper in drinking water, according to a new federal register notice.

The notice says that the rule, which was previously expected to take effect on Thursday, will now take effect on December 16. It also pushed back the date at which it requires compliance by one month until October 16, 2024.

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Biden Budget Seeks Boost for EPA Core Programs and Research

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Stephen Lee, Dean Scott, Jennifer Hijazi, Bobby Magill, Ellen M. Gilmer

President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2022 budget lays out a 24.1% boost to the EPA’s core rule-writing and enforcement programs and a 7.5% increase in staffing to get the work done, according to a detailed blueprint released on Friday.

The plan envisions a $3.4 billion request to implement the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and other statutes, up from $2.8 billion in the current budget. That funding would cover a huge range of activities, such as creating ways to attain ambient air quality standards and overseeing states’ management of hazardous waste.

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‘It’s a Toxic Blend’: Where the Kids are Warned Not to Swallow the Bath Water

/in , , /by /The Guardianby Vivian Ho

An invisible line splits the rural road of Avenue 416 in California’s Tulare county, at the point where the nut trees stretch east toward the towering Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance. On one side of the line, residents have clean water. On the other side, they do not. On the other side lies East Orosi, an unincorporated community of about 700 where children grow up learning to never open their eyes or mouths while they shower.

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