EPA actions tarnish Earth Day 50th anniversary

OLYMPIA – To mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, the environmental movement received a gift it would have been just as happy to forego. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) acknowledged the occasion by announcing a rollback of federal protections of water, air, and climate quality standards across the nation.

Washington Department of Ecology (DOE) Director Laura Watson released a statement concerning a new federal rule effective June 22 that will exempt thousands of water bodies and wetlands from regulatory oversight.

“While Washington law continues to provide protections for these streams and wetlands, the federal rollback leaves our state without an established permitting process or clear guidelines to review potential environmental impacts,” said Watson. “This will mean confusion and potential delays for development in our state.”

As to whether the latest EPA action will have any implications for drilling of new domestic water wells, DOE media spokesman Curt Hart told the Quad last Friday, April 24, that the rollback targets surface waters only and is related to water quality.

“The new federal law does not address groundwater (underground sources of water),” said Hart. “This means there is no effect on state well-drilling regulations.”

The EPA action is the latest of nearly 100 rules reversals or rollback proposals pursued by the Trump administration to emissions, drilling, toxic substances, water pollution, and more related to:

● Mine debris dumping in streams.

● Offshore drilling regulations.

● Landfill methane emissions.

● Clean Water Act protections.

● Endangered species.

● Oil fracking.

Earth Day was first observed on April 22, 1970.

“Since the first Earth Day, the EPA has regulated lead out of paint, air, and gasoline,” wrote EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler in an April 22 EPA media release. “It started fuel-economy testing (and then caught those cheating on them), phased out ozone-depleting aerosols, and removed cancer-causing pesticides from the marketplace.”

Wheeler added that 50 years ago nearly half of the nation’s drinking water systems failed to comply with basic health standards as compared with more than 92 percent that meet all health-based standards today.

Wheeler wrote that last fall EPA addressed lead and copper contamination in drinking water by requiring cities to inventory lead service lines in their water systems.

“We are writing the rule in a way to ensure that replacement of lead service lines targets the most at-risk communities first,” Wheeler wrote.

Water bodies in Washington are protected under the state’s Water Pollution Control Act (1945), Shoreline Management Act (1972), Growth Management Act (1990) and other regulations.

“The new federal rule means thousands of Washington wetlands no longer qualify for federal protection or the streamlined review process we developed with the Army Corps,” Watson said.