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Friday, July 30, 2004

Environment - Stories today

Mercury. This story in the Indianapolis Star today is headlined: "Group demands action on pollution: State board, petitioned nearly 2 months ago, has delayed a hearing on mercury regulations." Some quotes:

The Hoosier Environmental Council has asked the state Air Pollution Control Board to require Indiana coal-burning plants to reduce mercury emissions 90 percent by 2008 and has petitioned for a public hearing on the issue.

But almost two months after receiving the petition with enough signatures to legally require a hearing, the pollution board has not acted on the request. Instead, board Chairman John Walker said he'll eventually hold a meeting but wants to wait for a recommendation from a work group of regulators, industry officials and environmentalists -- which has yet to be established.

"It's very frustrating, because in June (the board) agreed that hearings would be a good idea, and now it's basically being placed in limbo," said Brian Wright, coal policy adviser at the Hoosier Environmental Council. "One of our concerns is that they will delay this until industry can run to the legislature and say, 'Don't let them do this.' "

Officials from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and industry say it's wise to study the issue before moving ahead with public meetings or rules -- and they hope the federal government acts to curb emissions so the state won't have to do it on its own.

The statute allowing citizen proposals is located at IC 13-14-8-5.

Group piers. "Grouping of piers is sought by state" is the headline to this story in the Fort Wayne Gazette. Some quotes:

By proposing a new rule to address group piers, state officials aim to regulate lake funneling, an issue that irritates existing lake residents and plagues plan commissions.

In Steuben County, dubbed Northern Indiana Lakes Country because of the 101 lakes peppering the land, the issue is particularly provocative. And officials there are particularly interested in the rule, which will create a designation for group piers, essentially providing a middle ground between a personal pier and money-making marina.

The rule proposed by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources defines a “group pier” as any dock that provides space for any of the following: at least five property owners, at least five rental units, an association, a condominium, a subdivision, a conservancy district, a campground, a mobile home park or a yacht club.

The category disqualifies a group pier from inclusion in a general pier license, and a developer seeking to build a group pier would need to apply for a special permit and complete a public hearing process.

Water quality. Two stories today in the Muncie StarPress. "State targets sewage in our streams" is the headline of the first. Some quotes:
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management plans to establish limits on sewage and manure loading in four impaired tributaries of the White River in Delaware, Madison, Hamilton and Tipton counties. The public is invited to a kickoff meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 25 at Anderson Public Library.

"You can help us by attending this meeting and becoming involved in the TMDL [Total Maximum Daily Load] process," IDEM's Andrew Pelloso said. At the meeting, the agency will explain TMDLs and how the tributaries are impaired, and ask the public to help the agency learn more about the creeks.

The four contaminated tributaries are Killbuck, Pipe, Stony and Duck creeks. Like the White River, the four tributaries are impaired by E. coli bacteria, which indicates they are contaminated with fecal waste from humans, livestock and wildlife such as geese.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency several months ago approved IDEM's proposed TMDL for E. coli bacteria in White River between Muncie and the Marion-Hamilton county line. * * *

Reduction of loads from other sources will require a voluntary approach, [IDEM's Staci Goodwin] said.

Among the best management practices that will be considered are:

- An outreach program to teach homeowners how to recognize and repair or replace failing septic systems.

- Excluding livestock from rivers and streams by fencing.

- Add more vegetation along streams to reduce bank erosion, provide shade and habitat for wildlife, and filter sediment and nutrients such as manure and fertilizer from storm water runoff.

- Build detention basins, infiltration trenches, dry and wet ponds, porous parking lots and wetlands in urban areas. The purpose is to route storm water to holding basins so pollutants can settle out of the water.

The second StarPress story is headlined: "Few impaired rivers have pollution caps." Some quotes:
Indiana ranks 48th in the country in establishing pollution limits for impaired rivers and streams.

The state has identified more than 1,100 impaired rivers and streams, but it has developed Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for only 15 of those rivers, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. * * *

The top three impairments in Indiana rivers and streams are fish contaminated with PCBs and mercury; disease-causing agents such as bacteria and viruses, and the lack of diversity of fish, insects, crayfish, worms, and other animals.

The state has developed a TMDL - a pollution budget or load limit - for White River between Muncie and Noblesville, which is impaired by E. coli bacteria - an indicator of fecal waste from humans, livestock and wildlife. It also has developed or is close to developing TMDLs for 14 other waterways, including the St. Joe River, Kokomo Creek, Trail Creek, Fall Creek, Salt Creek and Lake Michigan.

But Ohio has created 302 TMDLs, Kentucky and Michigan have established 41 TMDLs each, and Illinois has developed 18 TMDLs. Four states - West Virginia, Kansas, Pennsylvania and Georgia - have established more than 1,000 TMDLs each, and 18 other states have created more than 100 TMDLs each, according to EPA's TMDL Web site.

Only two states - Hawaii and Nevada - have fewer TMDLs than Indiana. Hawaii has not identified many impaired waters, and Nevada is a state that has light rainfall and mostly small rivers.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 30, 2004 04:57 PM
Posted to Environmental Issues