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We will not be sending a WPN Update next week. Enjoy this week's update, have a great Election Day today, and watch for our next regular WPN Update on November 20!
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What's Included This Week:
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Sign to Protect Water & Wildlife: Tell the EPA Not to Weaken 404(c) Rules!
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The Trump Administration is proposing to rewrite the rules for Clean Water Act Section 404(c) in a way that will limit the use of this critical tool for protecting the nation’s waters from the most egregious actions. Section 404(c) serves a vital tool - an action of last resort - to stop the most unacceptably damaging harm to the nation’s rivers, streams, and wetlands.
The EPA has used its 404(c) authority to veto 13 projects, protecting more than 200,000 acres of wetlands and 36 miles of rivers and streams in 11 states. Such 404(c) vetoes have been instrumental for the WPN and many organizations to stop environmentally disastrous projects, such as the Yazoo Pumps Flood Control Project in Mississippi and the Spruce No. 1 Surface Coal Mine in West Virginia. A proposed 404(c) action, if finalized, would impose important restrictions on the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay Alaska to protect habitat that supports the largest salmon fishery on earth.
Add your organization to those calling on the EPA to maintain their existing 404(c) rules and to revoke the June Memorandum that directs unlawful time limits and unnecessary revisions of those rules. Click here to sign the letter by Tuesday, December 4, 2018.
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NEPA News: EPA Eliminates Grades for Draft Environmental Impact Statements
On October 22, the EPA announced that it will no longer assign grades to Draft Environmental Impact Statements (DEIS). The two-part grades, first implemented in 1984, included both a letter grade for EPA's evaluation of a proposed plan's environmental impact as well as a numerical grade for the adequacy of the DEIS. The EPA's decision to eliminate this grading system will make it more difficult for the public and decision-makers to understand the degree of a project's potential impacts or the technical adequacy of the DEIS.
The EPA must still evaluate and comment on DEISs, and must still refer to the Council of Environmental Quality any plans with environmentally unsatisfactory impacts. However, "the [EPA] memo announcing this new policy noted that such a referral would be “rare" (NRDC).
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In Case You Missed It: Highlights of WRDA 2018
Last week, we shared a fact sheet that highlights the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2018's progress on Water Protection Network priorities, along with a summary of provisions that are both helpful and harmful for sound water resources planning. In October, WRDA became law as a title in "America's Water Infrastructure Act of 2018," after passing both houses of Congress with wide bipartisan support.
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5 Principles for Better Infrastructure Spending
WPN member and federal budget watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense recently identified five "Common Sense Principles for Infrastructure Spending":
- Stop paying for infrastructure that doesn't work.
- Maintain existing working infrastructure first.
- Set clear priorities for spending on new infrastructure projects.
- Implement the "user pays" principle.
- Rebuild smarter and better after disasters.
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Using Nature to Address Flooding: A Guide to Nature-based Solutions
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The Naturally Resilient Communities website provides a guide to thirty different nature-based approaches to reduce flooding and erosion, along with case studies of successful projects and links to potential funding sources and additional information. The guide includes approaches to reduce coastal, riverine, tidal, and urban stormwater flooding, as well as coastal and riverine erosion. The approaches - such as living shorelines, setback levees, floodplain restoration, planning and regulatory approaches, and waterfront parks - can be filtered by cost, scale, and more to help people learn about and identify approaches that may be appropriate for their own communities.
Click here to explore the guide.
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Resources: Recent Reports and Upcoming Webinars
Recent Reports:
- Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves: Utilities and Transportation Infrastructure, the latest report in the National Institute of Building Sciences' multi-year study on natural hazard mitigation.
- Future Water Priorities for the Nation: Directions for the U.S. Geological Survey Water Mission Area (2018), a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
- Progress Toward Restoring the Everglades: The Seventh Biennial Review (2018), a report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
- A Closer Look at the Sustainability of Our Groundwater Aquifers, Research Spotlight in AGU's EOS Earth & Science Space News
- Strong Indian Monsoons Steer Atlantic Hurricanes Toward Land, Scientific Press Release in AGU's EOS Earth & Science Space News
- OCEANS: Waters are heating up far faster than expected, an article in E&E News about a study recently published in Nature.
- Are Floodplain Buyouts a Smart Investment for Local Governments?, a report by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Improving NC’s Floodplain Buyout Program, an article by two of the report's authors.
Upcoming Webinars:
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Nominations Open Until November 16 for America's Most Endangered Rivers
WPN member American Rivers is still accepting nominations for their 2019 report on America’s Most Endangered Rivers® (MER). American Rivers describes the MER report as one that "highlights ten rivers whose fate will be decided in the coming year, and encourages decision-makers to do the right thing for the rivers and the communities they support. The report is not a list of the nation’s “worst” or most polluted rivers, but rather it highlights rivers confronted by critical decisions that will determine their future. The report presents alternatives to proposals that would damage rivers, identifies those who make the crucial decisions, and points out opportunities for the public to take action on behalf of each listed river."
Rivers are selected based upon the following criteria:
- A major decision (that the public can help influence) in the coming year on the proposed action,
- The significance of the river to human and natural communities, and
- The magnitude of the threat to the river and associated communities, especially in light of a changing climate.
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Army Corps Public Notices Published in the Past 45 Days
Inland Waterways Users Board; Notice of Federal Advisory Committee Meeting (Date Correction)
Published November 5, 2018
Garden City Flood Risk Management Integrated Feasibility Study and Environmental Assessment Public Scoping Meeting and Comment Period, Idaho
Published November 1, 2018
Pinellas County Coastal Storm Risk Management Study NEPA Scoping Meeting, Florida
Published November 1, 2018
New York and New Jersey Harbor Anchorages General Reevaluation Study NEPA Scoping Meeting and Public Comment Period
Published November 1, 2018
Notice of Availability of the Draft Integrated Feasibility Report Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIS/DEIR) for Westminster, East Garden Grove, California Flood Risk Management Study
Published November 1, 2018
Puerto Rico Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Study NEPA Scoping Meeting
Published October 31, 2018
San Juan Metro Area Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Study NEPA Scoping Meeting, Puerto Rico
Published October 31, 2018
Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Nebraska Department of Transportation U.S. Highway 275 West Point to Scribner Project in Cuming and Dodge Counties, Nebraska
Published October 31, 2018
Joint Notice of Availability for the Coastal Texas Protection and Restoration Study Draft Integrated Feasibility Report and Environmental Impact Statement
Published October 26, 2018
Inland Waterways Users Board Meeting Notice
Published October 26, 2018
Call for Scoping Comments for Mill Creek Flood Control Project General Investigation Feasibility Study, Walla Walla, Washington
Published October 17, 2018
Notice of Availability of the Final Missouri River Recovery Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement
Published October 12, 2018
Availability of a Final Integrated Feasibility Report (Feasibility Report/Environmental Impact Statement), Little Colorado River at Winslow, Navajo County, Arizona, Flood Risk Management Project
Published October 12, 2018
Notice from the National Park Service: Available for Public Review: Transcanyon Water Distribution Pipeline Environmental Assessment
Published October 10, 2018
Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Lake Ralph Hall Regional Water Supply Reservoir Project, Fannin County, TX
Published October 5, 2018
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