Latest news with #PeggyBrowne
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
What is the waters rule and why should you care?
The final listening session focusing on a controversial water rule will be held Thursday in Salt Lake City to give Utah residents a chance to weigh in. Called the Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, the hotly contested issue has wrangled its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. It has been batted around among various presidential administrations that have never been able to agree on its extent and reach. The EPA and the Department of the Army will be conducting a hybrid listening session for the public on Zoom and in-person at the Utah Department of Environmental Quality Multi-Agency State Office Building. The consecutive sessions will be offered at 2–4 p.m. and 4–6 p.m. Participants for this session will include: EPA Office of Water Acting Assistant Administrator Peggy Browne, EPA Region 8 Administrator Cyrus M. Western, and colleagues from the Department of the Army. An Obama-era rule issued in 2015 as an outgrowth of a Supreme Court decision was lauded by environmental activists and conservation groups as the most significant and impressive overhaul of the Clean Water Act in 42 years. Groups like the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership said the Obama rule clarified federal jurisdiction over seasonal streams — which involves 60% of the stream miles in the United States — and was critical for the Prairie Pothole region hosting 70% of the ducks in North America. Supporters of WOTUS say it is meant to protect the benefits of water for all people of the United States to enjoy, not just individual property owners. The rule, however, was derided by states, private property owners and ranchers as regulatory overreach that stretched the meaning of words like navigable, near or adjacent. The case of the Sacketts is one example. Mike and Chantell Sackett bought a vacant lot to build their dream home on in a mostly built-out subdivision in northern Idaho only to be told by the federal government their property was a wetland and subject to the authority of the Clean Water Act. 'The Sacketts' vacant lot is adjacent to Priest Lake, which is 300 feet away and behind two rows of houses,' said Tony Francois, an attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, which sued on behalf of the couple in 2008. Francois said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers have construed WOTUS to expansively extend their authority beyond what is reasonable due to an earlier 2006 Supreme Court decision (Rapanos v. United States) that gave little to no clarity on the issue. In that case, the Supreme Court was trying to answer the question of how closely connected to a navigable river or lake a body of water has to be for Clean Water Act regulations to kick in and how permanent must that water be. The Sacketts prevailed at the U.S. Supreme Court. A majority of the justices held to a plurality opinion in the 2006 case that the Clean Water Act applies to only those 'wetlands' or water which must be relatively permanent and connected to traditional interstate navigable waters. Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the concurring opinion, warned that under the EPA's interpretation of the Clean Water Act, 'nearly all waters and wetlands are potentially susceptible to regulation under this (significant nexus) test, putting a staggering array of landowners at risk of criminal prosecution for such mundane activities as moving dirt.' Utah was among an 11-state coalition that successfully got the rule put on hold with a federal injunction issued in 2018, and Utah's state Legislature has weighed in with a resolution opposing the WOTUS rule. It still remains a contentious issue, however, as the federal government tries to reach a compromise. The listening session Thursday in Salt Lake City is designed to gather more information.
Epoch Times
24-05-2025
- Health
- Epoch Times
EPA Granting Funds to Monitor Bacterial Infestation in US Beaches
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will provide $9.7 million in grant funding to states to be used for monitoring bacterial presence at beaches and assessing the safety of these places for beachgoers, the agency said in a May 23 Funds shall be used to monitor the quality of water at coastal and Great Lakes beaches, with grant recipients required to 'notify the public if elevated levels of illness-causing bacteria make swimming unsafe,' the EPA said. 'Millions of Americans will travel to the beach this summer to relax or play in the water. They will make lifelong memories and provide a boon to local economies,' said EPA acting Assistant Administrator for Water Peggy Browne. 'With $9.7 million from EPA, states and local authorities can help ensure that our beaches are open for business and that beachgoers can swim and splash without fear of getting sick.' The funds are to be disbursed to eight EPA regions, with each region composed of multiple states. The largest grant will go to EPA Region 4, with six states in the bloc—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and North Carolina—sharing $1.89 million, according to another May 23 Related Stories 5/21/2025 5/14/2025 Funds allocated to Region 4 are expected to 'help ensure safe beaches along the 2,035 miles of coastland in the Southeastern states, protecting public health while promoting tourism and economic development,' said EPA Regional Administrator Kevin McOmber. According to the EPA, the $9.7 million funding advances two goals—cooperative federalism and making sure that U.S. citizens have access to safe and clean water. These goals support EPA's 'Powering the Great American Comeback' initiative, a 'In his first term, President Trump advanced conservation, reduced toxic emissions in the air, and cleaned up hazardous sites, while fostering economic growth for families across the country. We remain committed to these priorities in this administration,' Zeldin said. Bacteria in Beach Waters Over the past years, there have been several instances of beaches being shut down across the United States due to concerns about high bacterial presence. In June last year, several beaches in Massachusetts were Swimming in unsafe waters can lead to respiratory issues such as sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, earache, fever, skin rash, abdominal pain, and itching. The state's Department of Public Health attributed the bacterial presence to heavy rains, saying a rainstorm washes the bacteria or excessive nutrients on land into the water, thus enabling small populations of these microbes to 'rapidly reproduce to unsafe levels.' A May 20 'Last year, 80% of beaches and sampling sites tested (483 of 604) yielded at least one high bacteria result that exceeded state health standards. This shows the importance of regular water quality monitoring at the beach to protect public health and safe recreation,' it said. The report listed the top 10 beaches with high bacterial presence. The Walkomo Stream at Koloa Landing and the Kahalu'u beaches in Hawaii, as well as the Park View Kayak Launch in Florida, took the top three spots, with samples from these sites having a bacteria rate of 90 percent or above. Four more beaches on the list had bacteria rates above 50 percent. At each of these beaches, 'Surfrider Foundation chapters are consistently measuring high bacteria levels that exceed state health standards for recreational water,' the report said. 'These Beach Bacteria Hot Spots represent a variety of recreational waters and access points that are important to local communities, yet water quality conditions could be putting public health at risk.'
