Washington, DC -- New Environmental Protection Agency rules intended to reduce pollution in the nation's lakes, streams and rivers have sparked criticism from Congress members and groups in the agriculture, pulp and paper, forestry and construction industries, according to a report from Environmental News Service.
Despite Congress' attempt to block implementation, the Clinton administration and EPA on July 11 pushed through the signing of new total maximum daily load (TMDL) rules. These rules will require states to make pollution surveys of more than 20,000 bodies of water over the next 15 years. Those surveys would be used to set TMDL limits on the amounts of pollutants that a polluted lake, river or stream can handle.
It names specific pollutants and polluters, and specifies reductions in the amounts to pollutants necessary to meet federal clean water standards.
For the first time, the rule will give EPA the authority to control not only pollution from particular point sources like sewage pipes, but also non-point source pollution, including runoff from industrial and construction sites, farms, logging areas and even suburban streets and lawns. Currently, the states regulate non-point source pollution with help from volunteer groups such as Blue Thumb.
The rules are seen by industry members as too broad and ambiguous to be easily implemented. Some are questioning whether adequate research stands behind the rules.
Representative Jo Ann Emerson, a Missouri Republican, released a statement along with the Pulp and Paperworkers' Resource Council criticizing EPA's action.
"The President is intentionally skirting around Congress to implement a regulation that the people of this country and their elected leaders do not want," said Emerson. "There is no scientific basis for this regulation. Even the EPA Regional Director from Texas admits this. It is simply rhetoric to temporarily satisfy the environmental elitists without consideration of the to cost jobs and the very livelihood of rural America."
Senator Tim Hutchinson, the Arkansas Republican who helped push through the rider to block the EPA rule, blasted the EPA's decision.
"Today's signing of the final TMDL rule is a slap in the face to Arkansas farmers, business owners and private landowners," said Hutchinson. "The White House has gone too far in their zeal to overregulate and impose unreasonable regulations on our property owners, and thousands of Arkansans are going to be outraged about today's news. I would encourage the Administration to explain why they felt the need to disregard congressional intent and serious public concern to push the finalization of this rule through at the last minute."
Hutchinson also said he would try to add a rider to a fiscal year 2001 funding bill to block enforcement of the new regulations.
In an attempt to pacify Congress and industrial opposition, the EPA agreed to a number of changes in the program. In general, the changes provide the states with significant new flexibility in implementing the program.
These changes include:
- dropping provisions that could have required new permits for forestry, livestock, and aquaculture operations
- enhancing state flexibility in meeting the rules
- giving states four years instead of two years to update inventories of polluted waters
- allowing states to establish their own schedules for when polluted waters will achieve health standards, not to exceed 15 years
But two members of the House Agriculture Committee - chair Larry Combest, Republican of Texas and ranking minority member Charlie Stenholm, a Texas Democrat, sharply criticized the EPA's rule for its potential effects on the agriculture industry.
"Farmers still have no way of knowing from EPA if they must get federal permission for irrigation of their crops, or whether a heavy rain washing over their fields will turn landowners into lawbreakers," said Combest and Stenholm in a joint statement. "EPA's rule change is a public policy debacle with the potential for a national cost in billions of dollars and lost credibility."
The two Representatives pointed to a report by the National Research Council that criticized the EPA's poor use of science in crafting new regulations, saying the study demonstrates that the new TMDL rule may not be based on "good science."
The American Farm Bureau Federation warned that the plan "would cripple farms, ranches and forestry operations at a time when producers can least afford new regulations," said Bob Stallman, the group's president.
"Farmers and ranchers have made much progress in improving water quality through voluntary, incentive based programs. This progress would be halted by EPA's unworkable proposal - a plan that runs counter to many successful local initiatives. It will, in fact, result in much litigation and further delays in improving water quality," Stallman warned.
National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) president Bob Mitchell said the EPA rule "will bring new burdens to home builders and land developers trying to meet demand for new affordable homes, a federal takeover of water quality obligations for local and state governments striving to maintain healthy, livable communities, and utter chaos for local environmental agencies such as state and interstate water pollution control administrators, who in a June 29th letter to EPA Administrator Carol Browner, called the new set of rules 'technically, scientifically and fiscally unworkable.'"
"Despite a personal request from NAHB's leadership on Friday to delay the rule, the EPA has rushed through a regulation that will only dirty the waters of federal, state and local government cooperation on river, lake and stream protection," Mitchell concluded.
The chemical manufacturing industry, represented by American Chemistry Council president and CEO Fred Webber, called the decision "contrary to common sense. Moreover, the process used to finalize the rule constitutes a possible violation of the law. EPA should stop politicizing efforts to improve water quality."
"By ignoring the states' input on this rule, EPA's decision is actually bad for the environment and will result in a needless waste of taxpayer dollars and private sector resources," Webber argued. "The American Chemistry Council will seek all appropriate remedies to EPA's decision," he warned.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest business federation, called the move "underhanded," and said it will carry "enormous costs and questionable benefits."
"Congress had justly sought to prevent EPA from taking over state control of local surface water quality, with a new federal program that would force massive costs on communities for uncertain results," said Thomas Donohue, Chamber president and CEO. "For months EPA has ignored industry concerns and now they're ignoring Congress as well. EPA's end run around congressional authority is a clear example of an agency out of control."
The final TMDL rule is available at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/finalrule/finalrule.pdf
