The Big-Ag-Fueled Algae Bloom That Won't Leave Toledo's Water Supply Alone

—By Tom Philpott

| Wed Aug. 5, 2015 6:05 AM EDT

A vast Lake Erie algae bloom returns, captured by a NASA satelite on July 28. NASA/Earth Observatory

The citizens of Toledo, Ohio, have embarked upon their new summer ritual: stocking up on bottled water. For the second straight year, an enormous algae bloom has settled upon Lake Erie, generating nasty toxins right where the city of 400,000 draws its tap water. Read the entire story here.

Group starts process to sue US agency over pipeline plans

By COREY WILLIAMS

 

Jul. 28, 2015 4:01 PM EDT 

AP News | © 2015 Associated Press

DETROIT (AP) — The National Wildlife Federation accused the U.S. Transportation Department on Tuesday of not enforcing a federal law that requires pipeline owners and operators to establish safety response plans for worst-case oil spills in lakes, rivers and other waterways.

Leaders of the conservation organization said it filed the required "intent to sue" notice through certified mail, giving officials 60 days to issue regulations or face a federal lawsuit.

Read the full story here.

More Details about the Procedures Involved in EPA vs. Savoy

Natalie M. Topinka
Environmental Scientist
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5 Air Enforcement and
Compliance Assurance Branch
77 West Jackson Boulevard (AE-17J)
Chicago, IL 60604
ph: (312) 886-3853
fax: (312) 692-2410
email: topinka.natalie@epa.gov

To clarify, enforcement settlements, including the full settlement documents which describe the terms of the settlement and amount of penalty assessed, are public records. There is not even a need to send a Freedom of Information Act request for these documents because they will be published on EPA's Region 5 enforcement website when they are finalized. However, it is the discussions which lead to the settlement that are confidential, as is the case with any legal dispute between two parties.

Regarding the penalty, EPA does not have the authority under the Clean Air Act to designate a recipient of the penalty dollars. However, in some cases, a company may voluntarily choose to mitigate a portion of the penalty by performing a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP), which EPA encourages to be performed in the community of the violating facility. In this way, the settlement of a Clean Air Act violation may be able to achieve additional environmental benefits (above and beyond correction of the original violation). A SEP must meet specific criteria according to the SEP policy approved by Congress, and EPA cannot require a company to perform a SEP as part of a settlement. See this link for more information about SEPs:  http://www2.epa.gov/enforcement/supplemental-environmental-projects-seps

Protecting the environment is everyone's responsibility.  Help EPA
fight pollution by reporting possible harmful environmental activity.
To do so, visit EPA's website at
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/complaints/index.html

What's Killing the Babies of Vernal, Utah?

A fracking boomtown, a spike in stillborn deaths and a gusher of unanswered questions

BY PAUL SOLOTAROFF June 22, 2015 on 

Every night, Donna Young goes to bed with her pistol, a .45 Taurus Judge with laser attachment. Last fall, she says, someone stole onto her ranch to poison her livestock, or tried to; happily, her son found the d-CON wrapper and dumped all the feed from the troughs. Strangers phoned the house to wish her dead or run out of town on a rail. Local nurses and doctors went them one better, she says, warning pregnant women that Young's incompetence had killed babies and would surely kill theirs too, if given the chance.

SIDEBAR

Jeff Goodell: The Fracking Bubble »

"Before they started spreading their cheer about me, I usually had 18 to 25 clients a year, and a spotless reputation in the state," says Young, the primary midwife to service Vernal, Utah, a boom-and-bust town of 10,000 people in the heart of the fracked-gas gold rush of the Uintah Basin. A hundred and fifty miles of sparse blacktop east of Salt Lake City, Vernal has the feel of a slapdash suburb dropped randomly from outer space. Half of it is new and garishly built, the paint barely dry after a decade-long run of fresh-drilled wells and full employment. "Now, I'm down to four or five ladies, and don't know how I'll be able to feed my animals if things don't turn around quick."

Read the whole story here.

Nexen Energy pipeline spill prompts environmental protection order

Alberta oil pipeline cleanup covers area of 2 CFL football fields

CBC News Posted: Jul 18, 2015 8:48 AM MT Last Updated: Jul 18, 2015 4:53 PM MT

• 

• A spill was discovered Wednesday, July 15, 2015 at Nexen Energy's oilsands facility near Long Lake, south of Fort McMurray in Alberta. (Larry MacDougal/CP)

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Alberta's energy regulator has issued an environmental protection order after a massive pipeline spill in the northern part of the province earlier this week. 

The order directs Nexen Energy to contain the spill, which saw five million litres of bitumen, sand and water released at the company's Long Lake oilsands facility near Fort McMurray. 

It also instructs Nexen to alert affected parties and develop a cleanup plan.

Read the entire story here

Water Works votes to sue 3 Iowa counties over nitrates

That's what we need in Michigan and Ohio not a bravoed new directive to reduce fertilizer input into Lake Erie by 20% over 10 years handing out millions of subsidies to the polluting farmers to do a minuscule fraction of the really necessary steps to safeguard Lake Erie's health!

 Timothy Meinch, tmeinch@dmreg.com

Des Moines Water Works will file a federal suit against three rural counties in northwest Iowa, an action that could trigger far-reaching effects on how states approach water quality regulation.


Bob Wessel of Des Moines speaks about water quality during a meeting at the Des Moines Water Works Tuesday, March 10, 2015.(Photo: Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Register)

Read the entire story here

Environmental Groups Renew Call for Line 5 Shutdown

JULY 14, 2015

The Oil and Water Don't Mix campaign issued a press release in response to the Michigan Petroleum Pipeline Task Force's official recommendations.

LANSING – In a report released today, Governor Rick Snyder’s Michigan Petroleum Pipeline Task Force went public with recommendations that hold some promise but lack a commitment to an open public process and immediate protective actions, leaving the Great Lakes and Michigan’s economy – with one in five jobs tied to abundant, high quality fresh water – vulnerable to a catastrophic oil spill from a pair of aging pipelines that push 23 million gallons of oil a day through the Straits of Mackinac, said leaders of the Oil & Water Don’t Mix campaign

Read the entire press release here