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.

Mustang Truckee

The New York Times did a colorful story yesterday on the restoration of Nevada's Truckee River and its relationship with the evolution of the Mustang Ranch.

I did a bit of poking around online and found a Nature Conservancy site related to the project, photos and videos taken by consultants to TNC (looks like a cool place to work!), and a list of designated use impairments to the Truckee.

Should definitely be interesting to see what happens and whether this restoration reduces turbidity, temperature, nutrients and, thereby, obviates the need for Total Maximum Daily Loads... and how long these changes take.

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.

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.