What's Included This Week:
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Help Defend the National Environmental Policy Act: Submit Your Comments!
On June 20, 2018, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) announced the Trump administration’s plans to re-examine CEQ’s longstanding National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. These regulations ensure that the public has the opportunity to participate in decisions that impact their lives, and ensure that government agencies take a hard look at the environmental, public health, and economic impacts of proposed federal actions before decisions are made on whether or how to proceed.
NEPA is a particularly critical tool for improving Army Corps of Engineers projects and for stopping projects that are too destructive to proceed. Changes to the regulations could be disastrous and could call into question decades of case-law upon which we all rely. We strongly encourage WPN members to file comments in defense of NEPA.
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National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorized
On July 31st, President Trump signed into law Congress's latest short-term reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). "The National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2018" (S. 1182) extends the NFIP until November 30, 2018. This is the seventh short-term NFIP reauthorization since September 2017. While it allows the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to continue to borrow from the Treasury and to enter into new flood insurance contracts, it does not include any NFIP reforms.
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How Levees Make Floods Worse
Levees are a common choice in the US (where we have about 100,000 miles of them) for reducing flood damages, but as WPN members know, levees create their own set of problems, including increasing risks in upstream neighborhoods, encouraging development, creating a false sense of security, and destroying floodplain habitat. ProPublica and Reveal recently published the results of their investigative research into this issue, including a brief history of levees, the role of politics and money, the Army Corps of Engineers' involvement, the human impact, and the science behind how levees affect flooding. Watch the video below to learn more!
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How "Levee Wars" Are Making Floods Worse
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Army Corps Settles PortMiami Lawsuit for Coral Damage
In a deal announced on Monday, the US Army Corps of Engineers reached a settlement with WPN member Miami Waterkeeper and co-plaintiffs Captain Dan Kipnis, Miami-Dade Reef Guard Association, and Tropical Audubon Society for damages resulting from the Corps' 2013-2015 dredging of Florida's PortMiami. The settlement calls for the Corps to pay for replanting 10,000 staghorn corals and to pay $50,000 toward the Miami-Dade County Mooring Buoy program to protect coral from ship anchors. The 2015 PortMiami dredging, intended to accommodate larger ships traveling to and from the Panama Canal, displaced more than 5 million cubic yards of seafloor. An independent study by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed that this dredging - not just rising water temperatures and disease - contributed to the death of staghorn corals protected by the Endangered Species Act.
However, this settlement comes not long after a June announcement that the Army Corps' 2018 Work Plan includes more than half a million dollars for a feasibility study for more dredging to widen PortMiami for cargo and cruise ships that now exceed earlier size projections. The Corps plans to take public feedback for this new study in the spring of 2020.
For now, we wish congratulations to Miami Waterkeeper for the legal victory! Check out their short video below about the settlement.
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Miami Waterkeeper on the PortMiami Settlement
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Army Corps Encourages States and Tribes to Take a More Active Role in Dredge and Fill Permitting
The US Army Corps of Engineers is encouraging states and tribes to assume authority for dredge and fill permitting for waterways and wetlands. In a July 30 memo, the Corps specified that "Section 404(g) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) [was passed] to allow states and tribes to take an active role in the permitting of dredge and fill operations within their jurisdiction of governance," except for any "non-assumable" waters. "Non-assumable" waters, consisting of waters used for interstate and foreign commerce as well as wetlands adjacent to those waters, will remain under federal authority for dredge and fill permitting.
Furthermore, the memo states that the Environmental Protection Agency intends to provide more clarity around the definition of assumable and non-assumable waters, as well as the procedures for assumption of authority. However, the Corps asserts that states and tribes "need not wait" for this clarification in order to assume authority. Currently, only two states hold authority for dredge and fill project permitting, but the Corps reports that several other states have expressed interest.
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Building Coastal Resilience After Deepwater Horizon
The Deepwater Horizon spill released more than 134 million gallons of crude oil with devastating consequences for the environment and the economy alike in the Gulf Coast region. The next fifteen years, with the promise of $20 billion in restoration funds for areas affected by the spill, present an immense opportunity for innovative economic and ecosystem restoration projects. The Georgetown Climate Center's new report, Building Gulf Coast Resilience: Opportunities After Deepwater Horizon, digs into this opportunity with lessons learned from case studies drawn from three large-scale infrastructure projects: Staten Island's Living Breakwaters after Hurricane Sandy, California WaterFix for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, and the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program along the Colorado River. The Georgetown Climate Center published the report as a resource for agencies involved in the Gulf Coast restoration projects.
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Welcome the New WPN Senior Coordinator
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Hello, Water Protection Network members! I'm Ilana Rubin, your new Senior Coordinator. I am thrilled to be joining you all in working to protect America's waters! As the newest member of the Water Team at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), I will be spending the majority of my time supporting you all in the WPN. As such, I look forward to getting to know you, and I welcome your feedback to maintain and strengthen the WPN as a valuable resource and an engaging network.
Before coming to NWF and the WPN, I earned a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University's Earth Institute and the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). My earlier work includes nonprofit management, cross-sector partnership building, disability services, human resources, education, and AmeriCorps service. Throughout all of this, my deeply held connection to the value of our waters has been consistent - from growing up along Lake Champlain to photographing wetland wildlife to my graduate studies. Now, I am beyond pleased to put my passion to protect our waters to work.
I will send out a survey asking for your feedback on the WPN soon. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to me with any questions, concerns, news, or just to say hi. You can email me at rubini@nwf.org or call me at (202) 797-6644.
Sincerely,
Ilana Rubin
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Corps Public Notices Published in the Past 60 Days
Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Northern Integrated Supply Project, Larimer and Weld Counties, Colorado
Published August 7, 2018
Withdrawal of the Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the City of Abilene, TX, Cedar Ridge Reservoir Water Supply Project
Published August 7, 2018
Availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Northern Integrated Supply Project, Larimer and Weld Counties, Colorado
Published July 20, 2018
Notice of Availability of the Draft Feasibility Report and Integrated Environmental Impact Statement for the Adams and Denver Counties, Colorado General Investigation Study, Adams and Denver County, Colorado
Published July 20, 2018
Public Scoping Meetings for the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Allatoona Lake Water Supply Storage Reallocation Study and Updates to Weiss and Logan Martin Reservoir Project Water Control Manuals in the Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin
Published July 13, 2018
Notice of Intent To Prepare Supplement II to the Final Environmental Impact Statement, Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) Project, Mississippi River Mainline Levees and Channel Improvement
Published July 13, 2018
Inland Waterways Users Board; Notice of Federal Advisory Committee Meeting
Published July 11, 2018
Notice of Solicitation of Applications for Stakeholder Representative Members of the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee; Correction
Published July 2, 2018
Notice of Availability of the Draft Feasibility Report and Integrated Environmental Impact Statement for the Adams and Denver Counties, Colorado General Investigation Study, Adams and Denver County, Colorado
Published July 2, 2018
Intent To Prepare a Draft NEPA Document for the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, Lower St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam, and Lock and Dam 1 Disposition Study, Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, Minnesota
Published June 29, 2018
Notice of Intent To Adopt U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's December 2015 Final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Statement, Prepare Corps Record of Decision, and Reimburse the Sponsor for the Upper Truckee River and Marsh Restoration Project, City of South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County, CA
Published June 29, 2018
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Online Resources for WPN Members
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Comments:
Our Comments page contains comment letters submitted by WPN members on topics such as veto requests to the USACE Environmental Advisory Board, omnibus appropriations, WRDA, and USACE nationwide permits. Email me at rubini@nwf.org if you would like to share your submitted comments with fellow WPN members.
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Resources:
Check out our Resources page to find sample FOIA requests and EIS comments (including scoping comments and comments on draft and final EISs), Corps regulations, Guidance and Information, reports, the Citizen's Guide to the Corps, and WPN Webinars.
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