Department of Ecology says water quality is on the line with new EPA rule
Jun 5, 2020, 3:57 PM
The Washington State Department of Ecology fears a new Environmental Protection Agency rule could put water quality at risk in the Pacific Northwest.
The new EPA rule affects Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, which requires developers of projects that could send discharge into a waterway and that need federal permits to get a Water Quality Certification. A Water Quality Certification is a special permit stating that a building project will not greatly pollute any bodies of water to the extent that the waterway falls below the state’s standards for clean water.
Examples of projects requiring a certification include natural gas pipelines and hydroelectric projects, according to the EPA.
But the Department of Ecology said the EPA’s rule will prevent the state from being able to thoroughly vet applications for these certifications.
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“They’re basically tying the state’s hands by saying, ‘OK, you can only look at certain projects, or you can only look at certain impacts, and additionally, we’re going to shorten the time that you have to review these projects,'” said Sharlett Mena, special assistant to the director for the Department of Ecology. “They’re trying to give us fewer tools to prevent us from stopping the project from going forward.”
Ecology suspects this federal action is the Trump administration playing directly into the hands of the big businesses that don’t want their projects stopped.
“It’s almost like they gave industry a red pen and said, ‘Here, what would you like to see?'” Mena said.
Ironically, Mena said, the EPA rule will have the opposite effect in reality. Rather than opening up the gates for projects to move through more quickly and with less oversight, Ecology will deny more projects if they cannot be thoroughly examined. That means jobs will be prevented from being created, at a time when record numbers of Washingtonians are out of work.
“If they give us 60 days, for example, to review an incredibly complex project and give them a water quality certification, we will not have enough information,” Mena said. “And we’re not going to say, ‘OK, here it is, approved,’ without us knowing for sure that it is going to protect water quality.”
Mena said this is just the latest in a long list of clashes with the Trump administration over the state’s standards for clean air and water.
Department of Ecology Director Laura Watson called the EPA’s rule an “unprecedented” and “massive federal overreach” in a statement.
“It’s been almost like a systematic and insidious attack we’ve seen on water quality and air quality protections for all 50 states,” Mena said. “But they’ve tried to make a poster child out of the state of Washington because we have some of the most stringent standards.”
She added that in Washington, a healthy environment and a healthy economy “go hand-in-hand.”
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement that the new rule will help stop states from “indefinitely delay[ing] or block[ing] critically important infrastructure.”
“Today, we are following through on President Trump’s Executive Order to curb abuses of the Clean Water Act that have held our nation’s energy infrastructure projects hostage, and to put in place clear guidelines that finally give these projects a path forward,” Wheeler said.
