WATER

PEAC works towards cleaning up and cooling down the world's waters on a regional and national scale by tackling the insufficient regulation and implementation of laws. Essential to the survival of life, elemental in the maintenance of stable ecosystems, and itself a habitat for aquatic species, water quality is a cornerstone environment issue, and PEAC is committed to its protection and improvement.

9th Circuit Ballast Water Victory

July 23, 2008 - The Ninth Circuit affirmed PEAC's arguments on behalf of Northwest Environmental Advocates, The Ocean Conservancy, and Sanfrancisco Baykeeper, upholding a district court order that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) repeal its 1973 ballast water exemption under the Clean Water Act.

Ballast water, discharged by ships for stabilization, is a major source of invasive species and other pollutants in waters of the United States. As recognized by the Ninth Circuit, invasive species harm native threatened and endangered species and cost our economy $137 billion per year, more than double the annual economic damage of all natural disasters in the U.S.

Nine years after a PEAC student drafted and organized the first petition to the EPA, the Ninth Circuit has affirmed that ships arriving in all United States ports will need to obtain discharge permits before dumping their ballast water or be in violation of the law, placing 21 billion gallons, for the first time, under regulation.

Melissa Powers argued the case while a staff attorney at PEAC, co-counseling with Deborah Sivas, now at the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic.

Read more about the case, see the press release, or click here for court filings and oral arguments.

Saving the Tualatin from Toxics

May 2008 - PEAC filed suit against Grabhorn, Inc., which operates one of the last unlined landfills in the Portland Metro region, for violations of the Clean Water Act. The Lakeside Reclamation Landfill, located on the banks of the Tualatin River a mere 1,250 feet upstream from the Tualatin National Wildlife Refuge, is discharging toxic pollutants, threatening the health of the local ecosystem, which includes endangered salmon, rare amphibians, and countless bird species. The 50-year old unlined landfill has contaminated local groundwater, threatening drinking water supplies, and interfering with one of the Willamette Valley's finest wineries. PEAC's suit seeks to ensure that current pollution discharges are halted, and that the river, wildlife, and local economy are protected long after the landfill is shut down.

Read about this in the Oregonian, and see the complaint.

A River Runs Through

Feb. 29, 2008 - PEAC reached satisfactory settlement in a case to protect the flow of the nation's 10th largest river, impacting 16,000 total stream miles and 12,000 square miles of watershed. Partnering with Willammette Riverkeeper and NEDC, the suit targeted the Willamette River's 13 federal dams that have operated for the past 15 years in violation of fish conservation measures required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The federal agencies in question have agreed to comply with their ESA obligations, resulting in significant protections for endangered salmon. Read more.

Plunging into Hot Waters

Jan. 8, 2008 - PEAC achieved a critical interim victory in its case for Northwest Environmental Advocates (NWEA) challenging federal agencies' erroneous approval of Oregon water temperature and inter-gravel dissolved oxygen standards lethal to critically endangered salmon, steelhead and bull trout.

After rounds of briefing, federal district court Judge Haggerty granted NWEA and PEAC's motion to complete the agencies' administrative records, from which they had tried to exclude thousands of documents from public scrutiny. This significant victory prevents such shielding and enables PEAC to begin briefing the case later this spring.

PEAC staff attorneys Allison LaPlante and Melissa Powers worked on these motions, with Allison taking the lead and doing a fantastic job. PEAC students Jamie Saul, Ellen Trescott, Morgan Wyenn and Liz Crosson toiled evenings and weekends to help us on the motions.

PEAC Ends Non-compliance

Dec. 19, 2007 -- PEAC won a crucial case targeting Oregon state agencies's failure to enforce compliance by the Blue Heron Paper Company with state water quality standards for thirty years.

Specifically, PEAC won a ruling declaring DEQ’s use of a “compliance schedule” in the permit (extending water quality standards long past the Clean Water Act’s 1977 compliance requirement!) invalid. Setting another important precedent, the court declared DEQ in violation of the Act’s “anti-backsliding” prohibition, pursuant to which it is unlawful for any permit to contain less stringent terms than the previous permit required. In this case, the previous permit required Blue Heron to meet the turbidity water quality standard by April, 2006, and the new permit gave Blue Heron an additional 5 years before it needed to comply with the standard.

Significantly, this victory prohibits Oregon from unilaterally suspending the requirements of the Clean Water Act whenever it or the regulatory community chooses.

The case was led by formidable Melissa Powers with PEAC students Natasha Bellis and Erin Smith.

Read the winning opinion (pdf).

Enforcing Willamette Flow

Sept 20 - PEAC filed suit impacting the very flow of the nation's 10th largest river, with potential impact on 16,000 total stream miles and 12,000 square miles of watershed. Partnering with Willamette Riverkeeper, NEDC, and the Mead Foundation, the suit is part of PEAC's OREGON WATERS campaign, and targets the river's 13 federal dams and their operation for 15 years in violation of fish conservation measures required by the Endangered Species Act.

See critical coverage in the Oregonian, view the filed Complaint (pdf), and read our joint Press Release (pdf).

Come to Court

Listen to expert oral arguments that the EPA should, for the first-time, regulate ballast water discharges -- a leading cause of bioinvasion and ecosystem disruption. To hear staff attorney Melissa Powers argue this crucial case, click on the first link (03-74795) under Aug. 14 on the 9th Circuit's official site.

Read about our earlier victory and see court documents following our hard-fought ballast water initiative, a crucial part of PEAC's Pacific Waters campaign.