Wednesday Roundup: Clean Water Act, Sulfide Mining, In-Stream Flow, Climate Change & Fracking

With the holiday filling up a big chunk of the week for this week's Wednesday Roundup, we were a bit concerned we wouldn't have enough news to share here. On Sunday, I was pondering possible ways to make all those Black Friday shopping stories somehow relate to clean water and healthy habitats.

Luckily, there was no need to write about the darkness of Black Friday. There was still plenty going on in the water world this week. Here are just a few of the highlights to catch you up on the news and resources from the last week:

1.) Keeping the Clean Water Act Strong

The New York Times weighed in again supporting a strong Clean Water Act in an editorial earlier this week. The paper got it exactly right: "The American economy has performed well over the past four decades: real per capita income has doubled since 1970 and pollution is down even with 50 percent more people. The choice between a healthy environment and a healthy economy is a false one. They stand, or fall, together." Learn more about the issues raised in the editorial in our recent blog post on the Act’s jurisdiction.

2.) Mining in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Resumes

After years of conflict in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, last Wednesday a federal judge decided all the state and federal permits are in order and dismissed a lawsuit, the apparent last hurdle to Kennecott’s Eagle Project. Nickel will be extracted from sulfide ore at this mine, which concerns neighbors and environmental groups. There is a potential for sulfuric acid to form from the tailings and pollute the Salmon Trout River which flows through the site and into Lake Superior. In addition, there are concerns that the amount of money paid to Michigan for extracting the nickel is inadequate compared to the natural assets lost forever and the potential for future environmental damage.

3.) Connecticut Establishes In-stream Flow Requirements

This week saw the announcement of regulations requiring minimum and seasonally variable releases for in-stream river flows from many reservoirs in Connecticut. The rules will apply to drinking water supply reservoirs, but not to hydropower facilities. As River Network Partner group said: "We compromised on many points," said Margaret Miner, executive director of the Rivers Alliance of Connecticut ..."But the public will notice a difference once these are in place. Streams won't be just bone dry in the summer, and the water will be colder, and moving better. There will be more fish, and people will be able to canoe more times of the year. We're trying to establish healthy river habitats with these flows."

4.) Climate Change, Stream Flow and Trout

Maybe I was swayed some by the fly-fishing picture, but this is the most interesting blog post I read this week. The blog’s author is a staff scientist for the Wilderness Society and he writes about how over the last few years he “joined colleagues at the University of Montana to study long-term stream flow trends in more than 150 Central Rockies streams using U.S. Geological Survey records from 1951 to 2008. What we found was alarming: Our analyses indicate that 89 percent of non-regulated watersheds – undammed rivers – are experiencing significant declines in stream discharge.” A link to the resulting paper is provided for your reading pleasure.

5.) West Virginia Modeling Good Regulations for Fracking?

Please note the question mark on that headline. Inside EPA – a trade publication for the water industry – is reporting that U.S. EPA is tentatively supportive of West Virginia’s draft emergency rules to regulate the gas extraction process known as fracking. We’re not saying these are model regulations, but advocates working on fracking may want to check out the regulations as a sign of possible regulatory directions to come – for good or for ill.