Marcellus Fail

It's a little skimpy on details, but this report on violations related to Marcellus Shale gas development in Pennsylvania is instructive in terms of the kinds of environmental impacts we might expect in New York. Unfortunately, about three-quarters of the citations involve actions that have the potential to directly contaminate surface- and groundwater with a largely unknown suite of toxic compounds.

Sustainable roofs and EPA news

First, a couple of great ideas for rooftops from some smart high school students...

Second, last week we approved New York's 2010 303(d) list of impaired waters and released information to generate public interest and involvement.

Clean Water trouble

According to the New York Times, the Clean Water Act is not what it used to be...

Please comment!

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation released its draft 2010 303(d) list of impaired waterbodies and its draft Consolidated Assessment and Listing Methodologies here. Comments will be accepted through February 26, 2010. Please provide data and/or information -- public comment is one of the most powerful ways to raise the profile of waters that need management attention!

SSE/303(d)

This summer an EPA colleague and I undertook a fact-finding roadshow, traveling to government, nonprofit, and academic organizations on Long Island to understand and document the causes of declines in specific shellfish fisheries and general ecological condition within the South Shore Estuary. As a result, a number of the organizations we met with submitted data and information to the New York State Department of Environmental Protection for consideration in the development of the 2010 CWA 303(d) list of impaired waterbodies. Yesterday, the DEC announced that it would include the Estuary on its list, paving the way to federal money to deal with the problems. Very cool.

Our mother the mountain

There's an excellent article exploring the impacts of mountaintop mining by Duke's Emily Bernhardt and ex-Dean Schlesinger in the new Science... and it calls EPA to task for allowing this work to go on despite mounds (no pun intended) of evidence linking the practice to egregious ecological damage.

Check out Andrew C. Revkin's blog post about it too, if only for the comments.

Toxic Waters

It's going to take me a while to wade through this entire New York Times series, but so far it's fascinating and dead-on with respect to my experiences as a regulator.

Clean Water Act webcast

Here's a good chance to get some background on the way that the Clean Water Act works:

EPA’s Watershed Academy to sponsor free July 1st Webcast on the Clean Water Act

EPA’s Watershed Academy sponsors free Webcasts to help build the capacity of watershed practitioners from around the globe. On Wednesday, July 1, 2009, the Watershed Academy will sponsor the first in a series of Webcasts about the Clean Water Act (CWA). This first Webcast will provide an introduction to the CWA including a brief history of the Act, an explanation of technology vs. water quality-based approaches, and a brief overview of key components of the Act and related EPA regulations. Future Webcasts will focus on key aspects of the CWA including water quality standards, monitoring and assessment, total maximum daily loads, programs for managing point sources and nonpoint sources, and wetland protection.

The Webcast will feature William (Bill) Painter, Environmental Scientist with EPA’s Watershed Branch. Bill serves as an expert trainer on the CWA and is the author of a popular online Watershed Academy Web module, “Introduction to the Clean Water Act,” posted at http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/cwa/.

Registration is now open at http://epa.gov/watershedwebcasts. Archived audio versions of past Webcasts are available at the same address.

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 303(d) list data solicitation

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is seeking data from members of the public in their effort to develop the state's 2010 Clean Water Act Section 303(d) list of impaired waters still requiring a TMDL. See their Environmental Notice Bulletin item here (scroll to the bottom) for more details and contact information.