The Rundown
- EPA releases flood of orders that weaken protections for the environment and vulnerable groups.
- Among the EPA’s actions is the intention to relax federal oversight of wetlands by rewriting Clean Water Act rules.
- Other rules targeted include wastewater from oil, gas, and coal-fired power plants, as well as coal ash disposal.
- Congress introduces water bills on Snake River dams and Arizona tribal water rights settlements.
- Trump administration pauses Columbia River Treaty negotiations with Canada.
And lastly, federal job cuts imperil mountain snow and water monitoring.
“Today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen. We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more.” – Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator, announcing more than two dozen actions to pare back environmental protections. Zeldin has branded his reign as “Powering the Great American Comeback.” Though nominally in support of environmental protection, the actions announced in the administration’s first two months are more in line with Zeldin’s other stated goals: supporting energy developers, giving power to the states, being the world’s AI capital, and helping the U.S. auto industry.
By the Numbers
6.16 Million Square Miles: Global sea ice coverage in February, a record low for the 47 years of measurement. Data is provided by NOAA satellites. Last month was also the third-warmest February on record globally.
News Briefs
EPA’s Deregulatory Storm
Lee Zeldin, EPA administrator, announced a barrage of actions to loosen limits on industrial air and water pollution.
Among the more than two dozen items, Zeldin said the EPA would:
- Shift the focus of enforcement and compliance away from energy producers and away from impacts to communities of color, which were prioritized in the Biden administration’s environmental justice initiatives.
- Review wastewater discharge rules for oil and gas production. Currently in the western U.S. (west of the 98th meridian) this salty, chemical-laden “produced” water can be used for wildlife and agriculture. But Zeldin wants to expand its use. The press release mentions data center cooling, rangeland irrigation, fire control, power generation, and ecological needs.
- Review wastewater discharge rules for coal-fired power plants. The Biden administration tightened limits on toxic metals and other pollutants.
- Give states more control over the disposal of the toxic residues from burning coal. The EPA will also consider rules waivers for existing impoundments that store coal ash. Chemicals from unlined impoundments can infiltrate groundwater and then streams and lakes.
- End the agency’s environmental justice office, which, it claims, is equivalent to a slush fund for favored liberal groups.
- Revising or eliminating a cost-benefit measure that informs federal regulations by accounting for the damage from carbon pollution. The “social cost of carbon” assigns a dollar value to each ton of carbon discharged into the atmosphere. That cost corresponds to things like property damage, disease, and farm output that are influenced by rising temperatures. The EPA began using the social cost of carbon in its cost-benefit analysis in 2008.
In addition, Zeldin announced the agency and others in the administration will reconsider a 2009 ruling that set the foundation for federal regulation of carbon pollution. The “endangerment” finding underpins greenhouse gas limits for cars, power plants, and other emitters.
Zeldin also moved to remove obstacles to prescribed fire, which is a way of reducing fuel loads and decreasing the risk of megafires. Smoke from these fires wouldn’t count against state air quality permits.
WOTUS Revision
The decades-long, back-and-forth tussle over which water bodies have federal protection under the Clean Water Act is being revived.
The EPA issued new guidance that narrows the Biden administration’s interpretation of a 2023 Supreme Court ruling on the waters of the United States, or WOTUS.
The phrase at issue is “continuous surface connection.” Wetlands that have such a connection to regulated waterways are themselves regulated.
The Biden-era guidance allowed for “discrete features” like non-jurisdictional ditches, pipes, and culverts to make such a connection. The new interpretation does not.
Additional changes are in store. The EPA and Army Corps will re-evaluate other aspects of the Biden administration’s guidance, which Republican-led states have challenged in court.
Water Bills in Congress
Outside the budget showdown, these bills were introduced.
- Arizona representatives are trying again to move a historic water rights settlement through Congress. They reintroduced legislation for a $5.1 billion settlement that would grant rights to Colorado River water to the Navajo Nation and Hopi Tribe, as well as land for the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe.
- Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) introduced a bill that would prohibit use of federal funds to breach four dams on the Lower Snake River, a contentious topic. A companion bill sets conditions under which the Army Corps could not breach any of the dams. The dams block salmon and lamprey from upstream habitat, but also provide hydropower and low-cost shipping for the region’s grain.
Studies and Reports
Columbia River Treaty
The U.S. has paused negotiations with Canada over updates to a treaty that guides use of the shared Columbia River, the CBC reports.
Ratified in 1964, the Columbia River Treaty governs the operation of reservoirs for hydropower generation and flood protection. It says little about environmental issues like salmon habitat. Correcting that omission and amending the agreement to account for a changing climate are key points in negotiations that begin in the first Trump administration.
On March 25, Canada’s minister of energy and climate solutions will hold a virtual information session on the status of the negotiations. Register here.
Snowpack Monitoring
Federal job cuts are jeopardizing the snowpack monitoring network in the Pacific Northwest, KUOW reports.
The cuts are “just basically taking a hammer and smashing everything up, and maybe it’ll decrease costs for a short time, but their service will be significantly degraded,” according to Oregon state climatologist Larry O’Neill.
On the Radar
Global Threats Assessment
Mid-March is usually the time when the national intelligence agencies release their assessment of global threats.
In past years, even in the first Trump administration, the assessment highlighted the societal, economic, and political risks of water shortages and a warming planet.
WOTUS Review
The EPA will hold six “listening sessions” to gather public input as it seeks to redefine the waters of the United States that are subject to federal oversight. Times and dates have not yet been announced.
Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.