Enforce Clean Water Act

In “Discharge dilemma: PCBs a dangerous downside to recycling work,” Inland Empire Paper (IEP) is profiled by another subsidiary of Cowles Co.: The Spokesman-Review. IEP pollutes the Spokane River with PCBs. IEP wants a permit to continue polluting.

The federal Clean Water Act requires a cleanup plan (total maximum daily load, or TMDL). A TMDL calculates the total loading of the pollutant and allocates among the various sources.

Washington Department of Ecology is attempting to sidestep the law by not preparing a PCB TMDL – issuing pollution permits anyway.

Ecology’s “better way” is a Regional Toxics Task Force comprised of dischargers that would create their own milestones and schedules for PCB cleanup. Foxes guarding the henhouse.

In July, Kaiser appealed its new permit, partly because the Toxic Task Force is vague and unenforceable.

In the face of powerful polluters, captured regulators and a corrupted permitting process, the Spokane River’s protection is the federal Clean Water Act – and citizen enforcement.

On July 18, the Sierra Club and the Center for Environmental Law & Policy filed a 60-day notice with EPA that we will use the Clean Water Act to protect the Spokane River: requiring a PCB cleanup plan for our river.

John Osborn

Spokane