The Rundown
- Supreme Court declines to hear a case that challenged the scope of certain citizen lawsuits under the Clean Water Act.
- Bureau of Reclamation’s internal watchdog flags fraud and waste risk in drought response contracts.
- House Republicans from the Upper Midwest ask Canada to cut out the wildfire smoke crossing the border.
- EPA drinking water advisers will meet at the end of the month.
And lastly, the Senate debates the president’s rescission proposal to cut already approved funding for public broadcasting and foreign aid..
“New Mexico is far too familiar with devastation and destruction that comes from fires and flooding and other natural disasters. Three years ago, we experienced one of the worst fires in our state’s history, with the Hermit’s Peak and Calf Canyon fire. A critical part of that response was our local radio stations and public broadcasters disseminating information in real time about evacuations, shelter information, food drives, and state and federal resources.” – Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) speaking on the Senate floor in support of federal funding for public broadcasting that President Trump wants to cut. The House already approved the president’s $9.4 billion rescissions package, which includes cuts to foreign aid.
By the Numbers
588: Monitoring sites in the U.S. Geological Survey’s national network to study the effect of climate change and drought on groundwater levels.
News Briefs
Citizen Power
The U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear a case that would have challenged the power of citizens, in certain instances, to sue to clean up polluted waterways.
In Port of Tacoma v. Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, the question is the scope of the citizen lawsuit authority. Can citizens use federal courts to uphold provisions in state-issued Clean Water Act pollution permits that relate to state law and are stricter than federal rules?
Because there are conflicting decisions in lower courts, the U.S. government argued that the high court should take on the case in order to clarify matters.
The high court had a different idea. By denying the petition, the justices upheld a lower court ruling.
Lawyers at Beveridge and Diamond think that the high court is waiting on more decisions in lower courts. In the meantime, they say, similar citizen suits are likely to be filed owing to a drop in federal enforcement.
Senate Debates Spending Cuts
In June, the House approved President Trump’s request to cut $9.4 billion in spending that Congress already approved.
The Senate is now debating the proposal, which the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities calls the largest rescission package in over four decades.
In total, the Office of Management and Budget asked for $9.4 billion to be rescinded from 22 programs across the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Among the USAID targets are $1.7 billion in the Economic Support Fund, which has been used for climate projects; $125 million in the Clean Technology Fund; and $496 million from international disaster assistance.
Yet the largest line item is $2.5 billion for development assistance, a catchall category from which water, sanitation, and hygiene funding is drawn.
The development assistance programs are designed to alleviate poverty and human misery, but the administration claims that many of them “conflict with American values, interfere with the sovereignty of other countries, and bankroll corrupt leaders’ evasion of their responsibilities to their citizens, all while providing no clear benefit to Americans.”
Studies and Reports
Drought Response Funds: Fraud and Waste Risk
By using a less strict form of contract, the Bureau of Reclamation increases the risk of fraud and waste in the disbursement of $4 billion in drought response funds, according to an audit by the Department of Interior’s internal watchdog.
The funds were appropriated in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The DOI Office of Inspector General focused on $657 million in “Bucket 2” funds, which are meant to support long-term water savings in the western states.
According to the audit, the type of contract Reclamation is using is one that has less transparency and a higher risk of wasteful spending.
On the Radar
Air Politics
House Republicans from the Upper Midwest, in a letter to the Canadian ambassador to the United States, inserted themselves in cross-border air quality problems.
The letter complained about smoke from Canadian wildfire that has fouled the air in the Great Lakes region once again this summer. Six representatives from Minnesota and Wisconsin asked Amb. Kirsten Hillman what her government plans to do about it.
“While we know a key driver of this issue has been a lack of active forest management, we’ve also seen things like arson as another way multiple large wildfires have ignited in Canada,” the letter states. “With all the technology that we have at our disposal, both in preventing and fighting wildfires, this worrisome trend can be reversed if proper action is taken.”
In the U.S., the Trump administration is promoting logging and thinning of national forests as a way to reduce wildfire risk.
The increase in wildfires is due to a legacy of fire suppression coupled with hotter, drier weather as a result of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.
In context: Wildfire Rampage Injures Lungs in the Great Lakes
National Drinking Water Advisory Council Meeting
The council, which advises the EPA on drinking water policy, will hold a public meeting on July 28, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
The meeting will be webcast. Registration details will be posted here.
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.
