Toney Ott Environmental Scientist US EPA, 8EPR-EP 1595 Wynkoop Street Denver, CO 80202-1129 303-312-6909 fax 303-312-7150 800-227-8917 x3126909 (Region 8 states only) [email protected] Partnerships & non-regulatory wetland program; Mitigation IRT Coordinator; Montana CWA 404; CWA Jurisdictional Determination Review; Tribal WQ monitoring/assessment/NPS; Fish/wildlife/plant consumption program; Aquatic Invasive Species. "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear." - Ambrose Redmoon
__________________ Administrator Jackson's statement about a need for a legislative fix to the CWA can be found here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/poisonedwaters/ Click on the slender purple bar that is partially obscured that says "Webcast: With Obama's EPA Administrator and the founding EPA Administrator", and it will jump to the webcast page. The discussion about legislative change is around 15:49 to 19:30, but hearing her answer Q&A about water issues is pretty interesting in general. Finally, we mentioned a recent publication from the greens that has a lot to do with jurisdictional issues. It's called "Courting Disaster." Here's a link. http://www.cleanwateraction.org/publication/courting-disaster-how-supreme-court-has-broken-clean-water-act-and-why-congress-must-fix The link for the following article is: http://www.esa.org/esablog/?tag=lisa-jackson EPA leaders talk water pollution at PBS documentary preview PBS gave a sneak preview of its Frontline documentary, Poisoned Waters, today at the National Press Club. The featured speakers included EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and the founding EPA Administrator, Bill Ruckelshaus, who served under Richard Nixon. Both agreed that to really clean up our nation’s waterways, we need one thing: new legislation. “There is murkiness about the jurisdiction that states have within the clean water act,” said Jackson, who — see below — was filled with puns today. “Folks approach a particular wetland or stream and say ‘Do I need a permit?’ There is anything but clarity on when water means water.” In the documentary, journalist and Pulitzer prize winner Hendrick Smith explores the science and politics of the massive amounts of polluted runoff from industry, agriculture and suburban development that run into America’s waterways each year. At the sneak preview, Jackson spoke about agricultural runoff, which is one of the country’s biggest hurdles toward clean water. The documentary shows vivid images of overcrowded hog farms, chicken farms and cow ranches along riverways, pointing out that a major inland water polluter is animal manure. “As we all know, manure happens,” joked Jackson. But she and Ruckelshaus both noted that a major obstacle toward passing legislation or reforming the Clean Water Act is to wake people up to the practices that contribute to damaged waterways — and to the idea that they are still, in fact, polluted. Ruckelshaus said that although 97 percent of people polled in the Puget Sound area feel a responsibility to keep it clean, more than 70 percent of them also think its waters are in excellent health. (ﾅThey’re not.) He stressed that the country needs rules to guide the conduct of individuals and companies in the way they interact with environment. Eventually, he thinks, the culture of quick-fixes needs to give way to real stewardship. “If we’re going to protect the environment for ourselves and all the living things we share the world with, we have to stay everlastingly at it,” he said. View a teaser for the documentary, which will air on PBS April 21 (check local listings), here: Click here to watch this video Tags: Bill Ruckelshaus, Clean Water Act, EPA, Frontline, Lisa Jackson, PBS, Pollution del.icio.us:EPA leaders talk water pollution at PBS documentary preview digg:EPA leaders talk water pollution at PBS documentary preview simpy:EPA leaders talk water pollution at PBS documentary preview newsvine:EPA leaders talk water pollution at PBS documentary preview furl:EPA leaders talk water pollution at PBS documentary preview reddit:EPA leaders talk water pollution at PBS documentary preview blogmarks:EPA leaders talk water pollution at PBS documentary preview Y!:EPA leaders talk water pollution at PBS documentary preview magnolia:EPA leaders talk water pollution at PBS documentary preview This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 2:55 pm and is filed under Conservation, Ecology and Society, Ecology in Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
