November 14, 2014 | Advocacy, Clean Water Act, Columbia Generating Station, Columbia River, Energy, Hanford, Lawsuits, Nuclear Power, Toxics, WA NPDES, Washington, Water Quality
State Court asked to overturn Columbia Generation Station water pollution permit NWEA has asked a state court to overturn the new Clean Water Act discharge permit issued by the State of Washington to the Columbia Generating Station. This plant, located at the Hanford...
November 11, 2014 | Advocacy, Ammonia, Clean Water Act, Lawsuits, OR WQS, Oregon, Species, Toxics, Water Quality
Are freshwater mussels likely to become the next species on the brink of extinction and the new beacon of water quality problems in the Northwest? NWEA recently submitted comments demonstrating that freshwater mussels are a rapid decline and their loss puts entire...
August 6, 2014 | Advocacy, Ballast Water, Clean Water Act, EPA, Invasive Species, Lawsuits, National, NPDES Permits
On Friday, August 1st NWEA filed yet another a legal brief challenging EPA’s failure to adequately restrict invasive species in ships’ ballast water discharges. Fifteen years and four lawsuits later, NWEA continues its fight to stop invasive species from destroying...
July 21, 2014 | Clean Water Act, EPA, NPDES Permits, OR NPDES, OR Temperature, OR Trading, OR_TMDLs, Oregon, Water Pollution Trading, Water Quality
NWEA has just released an extensive letter from Executive Director, Nina Bell, to Region 10 of the U.S. EPA, dated July 17, 2014, that examines Oregon’s water quality trading program. In the letter, Ms. Bell details the many deficiencies plaguing the Oregon program...
July 20, 2014 | Agriculture, CAFO, Clean Water Act, Comments, Dairies, Nonpoint Sources, NPDES Permits, OR Dairies, OR NPDES, Oregon, Water Quality
Oregon has a problem with dairy cow manure, it’s sprayed on fields, leaks from piles, and is dumped into rivers. But on paper, this manure is covered by a Clean Water Act discharge permit so strict that apparently almost nothing is ever discharged to...
July 5, 2014 | Advocacy, Clean Water Act, Columbia Generating Station, Columbia River, Comments, Energy, Hanford, NPDES Permits, Nuclear Power, WA NPDES, Washington, Water Quality
The nuclear power plant formerly known as WPPSS No. 2, now called the Columbia Generating Station (CGS), has a permit to discharge wastes to the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River. A nuclear power plant uses a lot of water and chemicals in its cooling system. The...
July 5, 2014 | Advocacy, Arsenic, Clean Water Act, Copper, Cyanide, EPA, ID Copper, ID WQS, Idaho, Lawsuits, Mercury, Salmon, Toxics, Water Quality, Water Quality Standards
In response to a lawsuit filed by NWEA in June 2013, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on May 7, 2014 issued a biological opinion (“BiOp”) finding Idaho toxic standards pose jeopardy to salmon and other threatened and endangered species. The...
March 31, 2014 | Clean Water Act, EPA, NPDES Permits, OR NPDES, OR Temperature, Oregon, Temperature, Water Quality
In July 2013, NWEA sent a letter to EPA Region 10 in Seattle asking the agency to weigh in on the Oregon practice of letting – even encouraging – municipal dischargers to dump their wastes into hyporheic zones of rivers. These hyporheic zones are where cold...
March 30, 2014 | Agriculture, Comments, CZARA, Lawsuits, Logging, Nitrogen, NOAA, Nonpoint Sources, OR CZARA, OR Dairies, OR Temperature, Oregon, Oregon Coast, Salmon, Water Quality
NWEA recently commissioned two expert declarations on how Oregon coastal logging and farming are affecting water quality. Dr. Chris Frissell’s declaration addresses the effects of logging on water quality, concluding that the best available science demonstrates “the...
March 28, 2014 | Advocacy, Agriculture, Comments, CZARA, EPA, Frogs, Lawsuits, Logging, NOAA, Nonpoint Sources, OR CZARA, OR Dairies, OR Temperature, Oregon, Oregon Coast, Salamanders, Salmon, Water Quality
Working with the Washington Forest Law Center, NWEA submitted extensive comments on the federal government’s proposed disapproval of Oregon’s Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program. The comments support the proposed disapproval, focusing primarily on Oregon’s...
