Tuesday, May 16, 2006

NYRU Celebrates Court Decision

PRESS RELEASE

Date: May 16, 2006
For release: Immediately
Contact: Bruce Carpenter, Executive Director
(315)339-2097


New York Rivers United Celebrates
Unanimous U. S. Supreme Court Decision

NYRU Says Decisive Ruling Directly Affects New York’s Rivers

Rome,NY – A Rome-based statewide river conservation organization is celebrating
a unanimous May 15, 2006, U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirms states’ rights to protect their rivers from water quality problems caused by hydropower dams.

In January 2006, New York Rivers United (NYRU) filed an amicus brief in the nationally-significant case supporting the state of Maine’s right to protect the water quality of its rivers. In yesterday’s decisive ruling, the Court rejected a foreign company’s bid to exempt five hydroelectric dams it owns in Maine from a 35-year-old provision in the federal Clean Water Act.

“If the hydropower industry’s court challenge had been successful, rivers across the nation would lose this vital protection and would return to being used primarily to generate profits for a few energy companies at the expense of lost benefits to local communities,” NYRU executive director Bruce Carpenter said. “The hydro industry’s challenge would have turned the clock backward on river restoration. It could have rendered our state incapable of setting even basic conditions for the operation of hydropower dams within the state.”

There are more than 150 federally-licensed hydropower dams in New York State. “Since the majority of the rivers in New York (e.g., Mohawk, Oswego, Beaver, Black, Salmon, West Canada Creek) have multiple dams, most of them producing hydropower, this Supreme Court case directly affects New York’s rivers,” Carpenter said.

Carpenter said, “This decisive ruling is a major victory for who love rivers and those who have worked diligently to protect our free-flowing rivers resources. It is especially rewarding here in New York where the Clean Water Act has been used extensively to restore rivers through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) process.”

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Carpenter said this vital court decision recognizes well-established science that dams can have a huge impact on water quality. He said, “Many of New York’s dams provide benefits, yet they have also caused considerable harm to rivers, as well as to local communities. Hydro dams have dried up entire river sections, depleted fisheries, degraded river ecosystems, and diminished recreational and economic opportunities on rivers across New York State.”

Since 1992, NYRU has worked closely with the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), encouraging the agency used to use its authority under the Clean Water Act to require hydroelectric dams to mitigate their adverse impacts on rivers. The result of this was hundreds of river miles restored, improved fish protection and passage, and greater use by local communities.

As an amicus party to the case, NYRU strongly supported the state of Maine’s right to establish requirements for dams on its rivers. Carpenter said, “We strongly encouraged New York State to join this effort and help organize efforts across the country to fight this issue. The effort was joined by the Bush administration, a bipartisan group of 36 state attorneys general, a coalition of more than four dozen conservation and fishing groups, American Indian tribes, leading river scientists and engineers, and others that filed ‘friend of the Court’ briefs. The issue was clear: dams can hurt water quality, so water quality protection laws have to apply.”

Carpenter said, “We hope that the Court will now will apply this same common sense approach to the remaining Clean Water Act cases before it and affirm that all waters of the United States are deserving of federal protection.”

Carpenter has participated in virtually all hydropower licensing and relicensing proceedings in New York since 1992, more than 50 in all. He is an active member of the national Hydropower Reform Coalition's steering committee and is recognized as a state and national leader in this specialized field.

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Action ALERT: Clean Water

ACTION ALERT :YOUR HELP NEEDED NOW

What we are asking you to do:


Ask New York’s House Members to VOTE YES on the Oberstar/Dingell/Leach Clean Water Amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill!
Next week, Representatives Jim Oberstar (D-MN), Jim Leach (R-IA) and John Dingell (D-MI) will offer an amendment to the EPA/Interior Appropriations Bill when it is on the floor of the House that will prevent the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from continuing to implement the destructive 2003 "No Protection" policy guidance that leaves thousands of waters and wetlands unprotected under the Clean Water Act (CWA). This Amendment will restrict EPA from spending money to implement this policy and begin to restore federal anti-pollution safeguards to our Nation’s waters.

Many Congressional leaders recognized the danger of this policy guidance and signed letters seeking repeal of the 2003 policy guidance (Senate letters: Oct. 16, 2003, Aug. 4, 2004, Aug. 5 2004; House letter: Nov. 24, 2003). But now – for the first time since the destructive policy was issued – there will actually be an up-or-down vote in Congress on this most important CWA issue! The vote is anticipated for May 17th. Please help us WIN this critical vote!

History of the 2003 “No Protection” Policy Guidance
· In 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. United States (SWANCC) limited federal authority under the CWA to regulate certain “isolated” wetlands.
· In 2003, the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) issued a joint policy guidance that further limited federal application of the CWA to waters across the country. Ostensibly, this guidance was offered to clarify issues of jurisdiction in light of the SWANCC decision and subsequent case law, but it is unnecessary and harmful.
· EPA has estimated that more than 20 million acres of wetlands (20% of the wetlands in the U.S., excluding Alaska) and countless miles of small streams are at risk under this policy.
· A Congressional investigation was requested to assess ACOE wetland permitting after the 2003 policy guidance was issued. Two reports by the U.S. General Accounting Office document ACOE’s lack of uniform or publicly available criteria for determining wetland jurisdiction, and further criticize ACOE’s lack of documentation of rationales when non-jurisdictional determinations are made.
For more information on the SWANCC decision and 2003 Policy Guidance: http://riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/watershed/you_can_do/442

The Clean Water Authority Restoration Act
Although passage of the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act (CWARA) is the ultimate solution to reaffirm protections for all waters under the CWA, Congress has a unique opportunity with the Oberstar/Dingell/Leach Clean Water Amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill to take a first step towards stopping this destructive 2003 policy that targets so called “isolated” waters.
For more information on CWARA: http://riverkeeper.org/campaign.php/watershed/you_can_do/579
To write to NY Congressional Representatives and ask them to cosponsor CWARA: http://ga1.org/campaign/CWARA_carabell_rapanos_clone

TAKE ACTION: Call you Representative and ask for the staffer handling the Interior-EPA Appropriations Bill. Contact information and Talking Points are provided below.


Contact Information:
Rep. Timothy H. Bishop (D-1) (202) 225-3826 Rep. Steve Israel (D-2) (202) 225-3335
Rep. Peter T. King (R-3) (202) 225-7896 Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-4) (202) 225-5516
Rep. Gary L. Ackerman (D-5) (202) 225-2601 Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (D-6) (202) 225-3461
Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-7) (202) 225-3965 Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-8) (202) 225-5635
Rep. Anthony D. Weiner (D-9) (202) 225-6616 Rep. Edolphus Town (D-10) (202) 225-5936
Rep. Major R. Owens (D-11) (202) 225-6231 Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-12) (202) 225-2361
Rep. Vito Fossella (R-13) (202) 225-3371 Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-14) (202) 225-7944
Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-15) (202) 225-4365 Rep. José E. Serrano (D-16) (202) 225-4361
Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-17) (202) 225-2464 Rep. Nita M. Lowey (D-18) (202) 225-6506
Rep. Sue W. Kelly (R-19) (202) 225-5441 Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-20) (202) 225-5614
Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-21) (202) 225-5076 Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-22) (202) 225-6335
Rep. John M. McHugh (R-23) (202) 225-4611 Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-24) (202) 225-3665
Rep. James T. Walsh (R-25) (202) 225-3701 Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-26) (202) 225-5265
Rep. Brian Higgins (D-27) (202) 225-3306 Rep. Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-28) (202) 225-3615
Rep. John R. “Randy” Kuhl (R-29) (202) 225-3161
If you prefer to send e-mail, find your Representative’s contact information here: http://www.congress.org

Talking Points:
· For three years the EPA/ACOE 2003 policy guidance has led to decisions stripping Clean Water Act protections from thousands of acres of wetlands and miles of streams, ponds and other vital waters all across the country and in New York.

· Although passage of the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act is the ultimate solution to reaffirm protections for all waters, Congress has a unique opportunity to put a stop to this destructive policy by voting FOR the Oberstar/Leach/Dingell Clean Water Amendment to the Interior/EPA Appropriations Bill.

· The Oberstar/Dingell/Leach Amendment will restrict EPA from spending money to implement this destructive policy and will begin to restore federal anti-pollution safeguards to our Nation’s waters.

· EPA has estimated that more than 20 million acres of wetlands (20% of the wetlands in the U.S., excluding Alaska) and countless miles of small streams are at risk under this policy. No comprehensive study has assessed the full measure of wetlands and waters that have lost protection in New York. Nonetheless, the Attorney General’s Office found that approximately 66-67% of wetlands at study areas near Lake Ontario and Millbrook lost protection under the policy guidance. New York City Department of Environmental Conservation estimates that 22% of wetlands and 30-34% of streams in the City’s 2,000 square mile drinking water supply watershed have lost federal protection.

· These threatened waters are the lifeblood of our Nation, and protecting them is essential to maintain diverse water systems, filter pollutants and safeguard our drinking water supplies, replenish groundwater aquifers, alleviate flooding, provide recreational opportunities, promote a healthy economy, and provide habitat for fish, birds and other wildlife.

· Please encourage [Congressperson X] to support the Oberstar/Dingell/Leach Clean Water Amendment to the Interior Appropriations Bill.