February 29, 2012 | Advocacy, Antidegradation, Clean Water Act, Columbia River, EPA, Lawsuits, OR Temperature, OR WQS, Oregon, Salmon, Temperature, Water Quality Standards
A federal court ruled largely in NWEA’s favor on February 28, 2012 in a case challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval of Oregon’s 2004 temperature standards under the Clean Water Act (CWA). NWEA also challenged the reviews...
January 2, 2012 | Advocacy, Antidegradation, Clean Water Act, Columbia River, Lawsuits, OR Temperature, OR WQS, Oregon, Salmon, Temperature, Water Quality Standards
In December, a federal court heard oral argument in NWEA’s six-year old case challenging Oregon’s water quality standards for temperature. Salmon, steelhead, and bull trout are the Pacific Northwest’s “canary in the coal mine,” making the temperatures of our rivers...
December 2, 2011 | Accidents, Advocacy, Columbia Generating Station, Columbia River, Energy, Human Health, Lawsuits, Nuclear Power, Petitions
After the meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in Japan, NWEA sought to participate in the process to extend the operating license of the CGS reactor. The Fukushima reactors are all General Electric boiling water reactors with what is termed a Mark I...
November 25, 2011 | Advocacy, Clean Water Act, Comments, Human Health, OR NPDES, Oregon, Toxics, Water Quality
Dumping sewage sludge (called “biosolids†in the trade) on land is the solution promoted by the federal government since dumping the waste in the ocean was banned in 1992. Neighbors abutting one ranch where the Roseburg...
October 25, 2011 | Energy, Hanford, Human Health, Nuclear Power
With great sadness we note the passing of Dr. Rudi Nussbaum, professor emeritus of Physics at Portland State University. Dr. Nussbaum, who survived the Holocaust and was an avowed pacifist, was an eloquent opponent of nuclear power and weapons. Most recently he...
August 1, 2011 | Advocacy, Ballast Water, Clean Water Act, Invasive Species, Lawsuits, National, NPDES Permits, Water Quality
A federal appellate court in Washington, D.C. has rejected a legal challenge by the shipping industry to the permit issued by the Environmental Protection Agency for ships to discharge ballast water containing invasive species. The permit, while issued by EPA, also...
May 3, 2011 | Accidents, Advocacy, Columbia Generating Station, Energy, Hanford, Human Health, National, Nuclear Power, Petitions
On April 14 and 18, NWEA joined with citizens groups across the country to file an Emergency Petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The Petition is supported by a highly informative expert declaration by Dr. Arjun Makhijani of the Institute for Energy...
May 3, 2011 | Clean Water Act, OR WQS, Oregon, Toxics, Water Quality Standards
In Oregon’s recent rulemaking to make the state’s toxic criteria the most stringent in the country, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) also sought to remove its water quality standards for iron and manganese. DEQ told its advisory committee repeatedly that...
April 5, 2011 | Advocacy, Antidegradation, Arsenic, Clean Water Act, Comments, Copper, OR Copper, OR NPDES, OR WQS, Oregon, Toxics, Variances, Water Quality Standards
NWEA spent the last two and a half years working through Oregon’s advisory committees to upgrade its water quality criteria for the protection of human health from toxic pollutants. Recently we submitted comments to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality...
March 31, 2011 | Energy, Human Health, Nuclear Power, Uncategorized
A lot of misleading information has been put out on radiation and its health effects since the start of the nuclear power accident in Japan. Listening to governments, nuclear industry supporters, and the press you would think there are “safe” levels of...
