Last Tuesday, EPA published its draft of the latest update to the National Recommended Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Human Health. These recommended criteria are developed under Section 304(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act, and provide guidance to states and tribes that promulgate criteria under delegated programs. Importantly, they are not binding requirements
Breaking: Puget Soundkeeper Moves for Summary Judgment in Suit Against EPA Alleging Failure to Promulgate Water Quality Standards for Toxics in Washington
This week saw two important developments in the lawsuit brought by Puget Soundkeeper and other environmental organizations against EPA Region 10 seeking to force EPA to promulgate new water quality standards for Washington that account for higher fish consumption rates:
The first is that the court, not surprisingly, granted Ecology’s motion to intervene earlier this
Guest Post: Integral Consulting’s Perspective on Washington’s Current Water Quality Standard Rulemaking Efforts
Note from Doug Steding:
This post came about when Randi Wexler from Integral Consulting Inc. sent me an email saying they were working on a comment to one of my previous fish consumption posts. Integral has been tracking this issue closely for a number of years, and I was excited to be able to offer
(Almost) Live Blogging: Ecology’s Delegates Table Meeting on Water Quality Criteria Revisions to Account for Higher Fish Consumption Rates
I spent much of this morning listening in on the Department of Ecology’s latest Delegates’ Table meeting regarding the ongoing efforts to revise Washington’s Water Quality Standards to account for higher fish consumption rates. The meeting included an update on where Ecology is in the process, Ecology’s current thinking on where the rule making may be going, and a discussion of feedback provided by stakeholders. Here are some of the discussion points I highlighted in my notes:
Ecology is still expecting a draft of the rule to be circulated in March, with the possibility of an additional delegate meeting between now and then. That rule is anticipated to include both draft Human Health Criteria and Implementation Tools. There was some discussion at today’s meeting about whether these two components would be done at the same time or as separate rules, and Ecology provided clarification that it intends to do both components in one rulemaking process.
When Ecology last held a public meeting on the subject (on November 6, 2013), Ecology provided some chemical-specific scenarios for arsenic, PCBs, and mercury that may be carried forward in the rule making. Today, Ecology provided some direction on where it may go with the rule for the following substances (the entire presentation from today is available here). Those specific toxics present unique challenges–you can review current thinking on them starting on page four of the presentation. I noted a few interesting points…