Idaho to take over regulating water pollution from EPA

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Keith Ridler, Associated Press
Updated 5:06 pm, Tuesday, June 5, 2018

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho will take over regulating pollution discharge into the state's lakes and rivers from the federal government under an agreement signed Tuesday by the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said the agreement was the culmination of a tremendous amount of work and partnership between the state and the federal agency.

"Congratulations to the state of Idaho," he said. "We are excited to sign this and look forward to working with Idaho as we go forward on these issues."

Pruitt signed the agreement at the Idaho statehouse with Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter. It shifts control of permitting and enforcement aspects under the federal Clean Water Act to the state starting July 1

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Idaho-to-take-over-regulating-water-pollution-12969571.php

[montanacowboy]

1. Oh, Ok, the waters from Idaho

must all stay within the borders of Idaho, so whatever they do or not do won't effect any other state.....right?

Jezus H Christ

and throw in Butch Otter, a real SOB from waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back

[BadGimp]

2. Cluster F&@k!

[Johnyawl]

3. Well, there goes the Snake/Columbia River...

...fuck the fish.

[SergeStorms]

4. All according to Trump's plan....

to terminate the EPA. He'll want to pass it on to each individual state, thus ensuring a total snake's nest of bullshit. Oh, and he'll pass the costs on to the states as well. Then he can give rich people more tax cuts.

[pangaia]

5. Whomever is figuring out all this shit..

all these ways to destroy everything, is really good at it,.

And it sure ain't trump.

[SergeStorms]

7. I think it's just luck....

Trump is so incompetent that things just work out that way. Knowing all the "best people" and putting them in his cabinet, it was bound to happen. He hasn't chosen one person who's remotely qualified for the position they hold.

[pangaia]

13. I doubt he is the one choosing the possible.

Start with Penis.

[BadgerKid]

8. Dry run for tax breaks, no environ. oversight for industry

[AJT]

6. Other states that have to deal with water pollution from Idaho

better get ready to sue.

[SunSeeker]

9. CA did this a long time ago.

But we did it because we wanted STRICTER clean air and water standards. This, of course, is just the opposite of why Idaho is doing it. But Idaho must still comply with federal minimums, such as they are. The only hope for Idaho's environment is if environmental activist groups like the NRDC sue the shit out of these assholes to enforce clean air and clean water laws. Mitch McConnell knows this of course, which is why he is stacking the courts with right-wing toadies.

[Takket]

10. Polluters take over Idaho

I wonder how many companies will move there and how many bribes were paid out to make this happen. Pruitt is a snake. Sorry that is an insult to snakes.

[yonder]

11. uh, oh was my first thought,

then at the end of the link, this:

Justin Hayes of the Idaho Conservation League, an environmental watchdog group, said the group overall backed the change.

The main benefit, he said, is that more permits will be examined by the state rather than administratively approved without much review by the EPA, which Hayes said is understaffed and underfunded in Idaho.

"There is some real upside in the state doing this," he said but added the group was wary of the potential of pressure being put on the state agency to favor polluters.

The ICL has been a mostly positive player in resource protection/land management efforts for many years. I'm encouraged by their wary support. However this is still Idaho, about as red as it gets, and nationally scores near the bottom of the barrel, in many categories, because of inadequate funding at the state level. The good ole boy, big bidness networks are powerful groups which greatly influence the controlling republican state legislators to largely act in their behalf, at the expense of us citizens.

If water quality issues come to a head, experience tells me ordinary Idahoans will be left with the short straw. Perhaps that is where downstream users will be able to exert influence through license agreements, lawsuits, etc. Dunno.

We shall see, but my qualifying uh, oh in the title is a definite UH, effin OH.

[BlueIdaho]

12. I live in Idaho

North Idaho to be specific. I can tell you for a fact Idaho does not have the money or manpower to deal with any lurking water pollution issues. For decades the EPA has been mitigating the lead poisoning caused by a hundred year history of silver mining. Tens of Millions has been spent and there much is left to be done - just in this little corner of the state.

This is typical of republicans. Send the authority to the state level without the money, expertise, and infrastructure needed to stop the problem. Pruitt is simply washing his hands of the problems and if it works in Idaho - you can expect to see this bullshit catch on in other states.

[rwsanders]

14. Already there.

I used to work for MO DNR, on my way out the door, I was told by a long term emergency response employee that the real purpose of MO DNR was to ensure that the EPA didn't really enforce the law against polluters. If it appeared things were headed that way, MO stepped in to "take over enforcement".

[yonder]

15. What BlueIdaho just said times 10

North Idaho is a great example. The feds have been unable to get their arms around the pollution problems up there, don't know how the state is going to do better. Answer: they aren't.

A potential problem exists in southeast Idaho as well with the decades-old collection of nuke waste stored at INL in southeast Idaho. It sits above the Snake River Plain Aquifer which provides water to millions of people in southern Idaho. Despite years of effort to get it removed or stabilized, there it sits, just waiting for an earthquake or other calamity to turn the south half of the state into an uninhabitable wasteland.

Of course it wouldn't be Pruitt's EPA problem. It would be Idaho's. Or what once was Idaho. Then we could do a reverse Grapes of Wrath: pack up and move to Oklahoma. Apologies to that state's residents but Oklahoma is not Idaho.

effin pukes

[BlueIdaho]

17. Well Said!

The INEL reactor and its toxic radioactive waste is just another ticking time bomb in a state known for its natural beauty. Truth is - for well over a century we have turned a blind eye to corporate polluters. Growing up in Lewiston I remember complaining about the stench from the pulp and paper mill back in the 50s. If an “old timer” heard me, they would say “That’s the smell of money kid - and don’t you forget that...”

[cab67]

16. Does Idaho have the money or manpower to deal with the lawsuits?

Other states are likely to sue should there be any downstream environmental problems originating in Idaho.

[BlueIdaho]

18. Idaho is dirt poor...

So no - but I suspect Pruitt is trying to neuter each state’s ability to sue. To be honest, the snake river that travels the length of Idaho flows into the Columbia which after a few hundred miles flows past Washington state’s Tri Cities which are best known for the nuclear reactors that made the enriched uranium for “the bomb.” They are still active today. That nuclear reservation (their words not mine) is so toxic the wildlife practically glows.