The most persistent source of water pollution in this country comes from nonpoint sources – the logging, farming, and grazing that doesn’t require a Clean Water Act permit to pollute. While Congress left nonpoint source pollution controls to the states, it passed the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments (CZARA) tying states’ receipt of federal grant funds to their nonpoint source controls in coastal watersheds. NWEA sued the federal agencies that administer the CZARA program. The major part of the 2010 settlement of that case requires the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to demonstrate that it can regulate logging directly, without regard to the inadequate practices of the Oregon Department of Forestry. Since then NWEA has been describing deficiencies in Oregon’s coastal nonpoint controls.
April 3, 2012 Honor CZARA commitments
May 2, 2012 Agriculture
June 13, 2012 Agriculture enforcement
August 20, 2012 Pesticides
October 5, 2012 Logging on Non-Fish Streams
December 14, 2012 Tillamook Dairy Wastes