EPA to Set Pollution Limits in 18 Rivers

In a move with broad implications for loggers, ranchers and developers, the federal government has agreed to set standards for pollution in rivers and streams caused by runoff, erosion and other broad-scale sources, attorneys said Friday.

The Environmental Protection Agency will set limits on the total amount of sediment and heat pollution for 18 Northern California rivers and creeks, said Joseph Brecher of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, which negotiated the agreement.

“If you had a pipe sticking out into a river, you’ve always had to get a permit,” he said. “But now we’re talking about pollution from diffuse sources--dirt and dust from logging, roads and ranches that finds its way into the streams.”

The settlement marks the first time the agency has agreed to a strict, enforceable timetable, he said, although EPA officials say a consent decree in West Virginia is similar.

The EPA acted in response to a lawsuit by 14 environmental and fishing groups aimed in part at protecting salmon and steelhead trout.

Glenn Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations chapter in Eugene, Ore., said his organization is pleased with the settlement. Thousands of fishing jobs are at stake, he said.

“It’s more than past time that the agencies looked seriously at water quality and how that affects fish and fishermen,” Spain said. “Without abundant and clean water, much of the fishing industry would disappear.”

Under the agreement, the EPA has 10 years to draw up its standards, which could be enforced through existing logging, grazing, water and development permits, Brecher said. Included among the affected waterways are the Trinity, Klamath and Eel rivers.

The standards must be enforced by federal or state agencies that control the watersheds, said EPA spokeswoman Maria Rea.

Although the agreement reached in a case before U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel applies only to Northern California, Brecher said the same basic issues are being litigated in dozens of other cases from New York to Oregon and New Mexico.

The limits on so-called non-point source pollution were called for under the 1972 Clean Water Act. But states balked at implementing the law, in many cases refusing even to identify rivers to be protected. Under the act, the EPA had the legal obligation to step in, and in 1991 named the 18 Northern California waterways.

But California water resources officials still balked at setting standards for its rivers and creeks.

“They told me they had a plan for the year 2050, and when I squawked, they said maybe by 2030,” Brecher said. “I told them that wasn’t good enough.”

In 1995, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund filed its suit aimed at enforcing the standards.

In Northern California, the biggest violators are loggers, Brecher said. Logging not only puts silt into the rivers, it removes shade and raises the temperature of the water.

But in many areas, agriculture is a major culprit, especially ranching. Runoff puts excess nutrients in the water and cattle break down riverbanks, Brecher said.

Development, especially road building, can put tons of sediment into rivers as well.