Focus

States tee up next WOTUS war

E&E News – January 18

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and numerous industry associations on Wednesday filed lawsuits in Texas district court over the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS)—published in the Federal Register that same day—to establish which waterways and wetlands are subject to federal permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The publication triggers a 60-day deadline for lawsuits before the rule takes effect in March. The new WOTUS rule aims to strike a middle ground between the Obama administration’s expansive Clean Water Rule and the Trump-era Navigable Waters Protection Rule, which significantly narrowed the definition of streams and wetlands that qualify for federal protection. Litigation over the newly-proposed WOTUS rule is being launched as the Supreme Court is preparing to rule in a pending CWA case, Sackett v. EPA, which involves the interpretation of the CWA and the wetlands subject to its permitting requirements.

News

Study suggests U.S. freshwater fish highly contaminated with PFAS

The Hill – January 17

According to a study published Tuesday in Environmental Research, eating just one serving per year of freshwater fish contaminated with per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) could have the same health effects as an entire month’s consumption of drinking water contaminated with PFAS at levels 2,400 times greater than recommended in EPA’s drinking water health advisories. The study notes that locally caught freshwater fish are far more polluted with PFAS than commercial catches. Tuesday’s study is the first analysis to connect U.S. fish consumption to blood levels of PFAS, while also comparing PFAS levels in freshwater fish with those in commercial seafood samples, the authors explained. PFAS compounds are notorious for their persistence in the body and the environment.

California storms: A two-inch fish is limiting how much water can be captured for cities and farms

The Mercury News – January 13

Recent Northern California storms have sent billions of gallons of water pouring across the state after three years of severe drought. But 94% of the water that has flowed since New Year’s Eve through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta has continued straight to the Pacific Ocean instead of being captured and stored in the state’s reservoirs. Environmental regulations aimed at protecting a two-inch-long fish, the endangered Delta smelt, have required the massive state and federal pumps near Tracy to reduce pumping rates by nearly half of their full limit, sharply curbing the amount of water that can be saved for farms and cities to the south. The move has angered Central Valley politicians of both parties, as well as agricultural leaders, who are frustrated that the state Department of Water Resources and the federal Bureau of Reclamation are not capturing more water amid the record rainfall.

Bay Area regulators look to impose sweeping ban on new natural gas water heaters and furnaces

San Francisco Chronicle – January 18

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) is considering adopting a pair of rules that would effectively ban, within the next ten years, the sale of new water heaters and furnaces that run on natural gas. The rules would apply within BAAQMD’s geographical jurisdiction, which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties, along with the southern portions of Solano and Sonoma counties. BAAQMD’s board is expected to vote on the proposal at its March 15 meeting. If it approves the rules, they would be the most sweeping regulations of their kind in the country, proponents said.

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