An aerial view shows the pollution in a river outside Norilsk, Russia following an oil spill, on June 6, 2020. IRINA YARINSKAYA / AFP via Getty Images
Russia's Norilsk Nickel ran into trouble earlier this month when one of its subsidiaries accidentally spilled 21,000 tons of diesel that ended up polluting a pristine Arctic lake. Now the company admits that it has been dumping wastewater into the Arctic tundra, as Agence-France Press, (AFP) reported.
<p>The metallurgical giant said on Sunday that it had taken steps to suspend the workers who dumped the wastewater, saying that their actions were in "flagrant violation of operating rules," according to AFP.</p><p>Independent newspaper <a href="https://novayagazeta.ru/news/2020/06/28/162616-novaya-grinpis-i-eks-sotrudnik-rosprirodnadzora-norilskoy-oblasti-nornikel-prodolzhaet-sbrasyvat-proizvodstvennye-othody-v-ozero-pyasino-foto" target="_blank">Novaya Gazeta published videos</a> from the scene showing large metal pipes carrying wastewater from the reservoir and dumping foaming liquid among nearby trees.</p><p>The company issued the statement just hours after the Novaya Gazeta video surfaced that showed water tainted with heavy metals from the tailings at a nickel-processing plant were being pumped into a river, according to <a href="https://apnews.com/bb823ae09f205fe32d0cd5b83d11b9e7" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/russian-nickel-mining-firm-admits-pollution-in-arctic/a-53976282" target="_blank">Deutsche-Welle</a> reported, when investigators arrived at the scene, the pipes were "hastily" removed, and a car that had delivered officials to the scene was partly squashed by a heavy earthmoving machine. Nobody was injured in the accident that crushed part of the car.</p><p>Before the time when investigators arrived, 6,000 cubic meters of liquid had been dumped over "several hours," reported the Russian news agency Interfax, according to Deutsche-Welle. It was impossible to tell how far the wastewater had dispersed.</p>
<p>The incident occurred at the Talnakh enrichment plant near the Arctic city of Norilsk, the company said, as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/russian-metal-giant-admits-pollution-arctic-tundra-200628181846954.html" target="_blank">Al-Jazeera</a> reported. This incident is just one month after the unprecedented fuel leak led President Vladimir Putin to declare a state of emergency.</p><p>The journalists who investigated the area claimed the factory deliberately sent the wastewater into <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> areas and then hastily removed their pipes when they caught wind of investigators and emergency services arrived on the scene. That hasty removal led to the accident that dropped machinery on an investigator's car, according to Al-Jazeera.</p><p>The Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said it had received reports of "unauthorized dumping of liquid waste into the tundra" on the site of the facility, and had opened an inquiry.</p>
<p>According to the AFP, Russia's natural resources agency said the decision to remove water from the reservoir was taken to avoid an emergency after heavy rains and recent tests had caused water levels to increase dramatically. The local emergency services in a statement said the wastewater was unlikely to reach the nearby Kharayelakh River.</p><p>A similar statement was made by Norilsk Nickel spokeswoman Tatiana Egorova who said on Sunday that employees at the factory had pumped out "clarified water" and that an internal investigation was under way.</p>
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An estimated 14,000 tons of microfibers sloughed off of soiled laundry is believed to be released into European oceans every year. ODD ANDERSEN / AFP via Getty Images
An estimated 14,000 tons of microfibers sloughed off of soiled laundry is believed to be released into European oceans every year, further contributing to microplastic pollution with a threat of becoming a "significant environmental issue."
<p>That amounts to about two garbage trucks every day, new research suggests.</p><p>Many synthetic clothes, linens, and households textiles are made with petroleum-based products like <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics">plastic</a>. When these are laundered in a washing machine, microscopic pieces fragment and break down before being flushed into <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wastewater">wastewater</a> systems that ultimately enter rivers, waterways and world oceans. A new forensic analysis published in <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0233332" target="_blank">PLOS ONE</a> suggests that an average of 114 milligrams of microfibers — defined by a fine strand of synthetic fiber with a diameter fewer than ten micrometers — is released for every two pounds of fabric washed during a standard cycle.</p>
<p>However, researchers at Northumbria University say that microfiber contamination could be cut by nearly one-third if people choose to wash at cooler, faster cycles — an annual amount of over 4,000 tons.</p><p>"This is the first major study to examine real household wash loads and the reality of fiber release. We were surprised not only by the sheer quantity of fibers coming from these domestic wash loads but also to see that the composition of microfibers coming out of the washing machine does not match the composition of clothing going into the machine, due to the way fabrics are constructed," <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-06-thousands-tons-ocean-pollution-habits.html" target="_blank">said</a> John R. Dean, professor of analytical and environmental sciences at Northumbria University.</p>
<p>"Finding an ultimate solution to the pollution of marine ecosystems by microfibers released during laundering will likely require significant interventions in both textiles manufacturing processes and washing machine appliance design."</p><p>The team, led by university researchers joined with laundry detergent companies, turned to forensics expert Dr. Kelly Sheridan whose work has been employed on murder investigations analyzing small, microscopic fibers left behind at crime scenes. Scientists employed similar technologies and ensured that cross contamination from other sources didn't occur. Using a spectroscope and microscope, the team was able to examine the structure and composition of microfibers released from clothing to then weigh and characterize those released in each load.</p>
<p>Larger wash loads were shown to <em>decrease </em>the release of microfibers because of the ratio of water to the fabric. As such, people should fill — not overfill — their washing machines to around three-quarters. A 30 percent reduction of microfiber release was observed when launderers used a half-hour wash cycle at 86 degrees Fahrenheit compared to the standard 85-minute cycle with a water temperature at 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Newer clothes were shown to release more microfibers than older clothes, particularly during the first eight weeks. Additionally, fibers made from plant and animal fibers degraded more quickly than those from synthetic fabrics.</p><p>Consumer choice can have a "significant impact" on decreasing pollution caused by microfibers when making informed decisions in how they do laundry and the products that they purchase, the researchers conclude. Though such choices will not eliminate the issue, they may "achieve a meaningful short-term reduction" in harmful environmental pollution.</p>
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Mt. Rainier and Reflection Lake on Sept. 10, 2015. Crystal Geyser planned to open a bottling plant near Mt. Rainier, emails show. louelke - on and off / Flickr
Bottled water manufacturers looking to capture cool, mountain water from Washington's Cascade Mountains may have to look elsewhere after the state senate passed a bill banning new water permits, as The Guardian reported.
<p>The state, with its glacier-fed springs and rainforests, will become the first state in the country to put a total ban on new bottling operations looking to plunder the state's natural resources. The proposal is one of several in the works in Washington to protect local groundwater and to fend off the growing bottled-water industry, as the <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2020/02/14/washington-state-opens-groundwater-fight-against-bottled-water-companies/" target="_blank">Tribune News Service</a> reported.</p><p>The bill, once signed into law, will go into effect retroactively and apply to all new permits filed after Jan. 1, 2019, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/18/bottled-water-ban-washington-state" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>"Washington State is carving the path towards a groundbreaking solution," said Mary Grant, the director of Food & Water Action's public water for all campaign, in a statement, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/18/bottled-water-ban-washington-state" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. "This legislation … would ban one of the worst corporate water abuses – the extraction of local water supplies in plastic bottles shipped out of watersheds and around the country."</p><p>Across the country, local activists have warned that bottling companies are taking their water almost for free and then shipping it elsewhere, leaving local aquifers depleted.</p><p>"I was jolted to the core to realize the depth and breadth and magnitude of how they have lawyered up in these small towns to take advantage of water rights," said Washington state Sen. Reuven Carlyle, who sponsored the bill to ban bottling companies from extracting groundwater, as the <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2020/02/14/washington-state-opens-groundwater-fight-against-bottled-water-companies/" target="_blank">Tribune News Service</a> reported. "The fact that we have incredibly loose, if virtually nonexistent, policy guidelines around this is shocking and a categorical failure."</p><p>One of the jolting actions was revealed in leaked emails after Crystal Geyser planned to open a bottling plant near Mount Rainier. Locals feared that the company's plan to pump 400 gallons a minute from the site would lead to dry wells. In emails, Crystal Geyser mounted a legal campaign to sue the local subdivision opposing the plant and then it intended to conduct an underground public relations campaign to garner support for their proposal, as the <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2020/02/14/washington-state-opens-groundwater-fight-against-bottled-water-companies/" target="_blank">Tribune News Service</a> reported.</p><p>"Pumping water out of the ground, putting it in plastic bottles and exporting it out of the state of Washington is not in the public interest," said Craig Jasmer, a leader of the Lewis County Water Alliance, the group that sprung up to oppose the Randle plant and has pushed for the statewide ban, as the <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2020/02/14/washington-state-opens-groundwater-fight-against-bottled-water-companies/" target="_blank">Tribune News Service</a> reported.</p><p>Crystal Geyser has recently proven its disdain for public safety. Last month, the company pleaded guilty to storing toxin-laden <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wastewater">wastewater</a> in arsenic in eastern California, and then delivering the water to treatment plants without disclosing its hazard, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/18/bottled-water-ban-washington-state" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p><p>The Environmental Priorities Coalition, a network of groups including Americans Rivers, Audubon, and Sierra Club Washington State, advanced the legislation on its highest priorities list, saying it would stop "new water bottling plants from proliferating in Washington state, effecting small rural community water supplies necessary for both agriculture and threatened salmon species," as <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/17/safeguard-public-welfare-and-public-interest-groundbreaking-measure-washington-state" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a> reported.</p><p>"Washington's waters belong to the people of Washington," said the Center for Environmental Law & Policy, according to <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/17/safeguard-public-welfare-and-public-interest-groundbreaking-measure-washington-state" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>. "There has been an increasing number of proposals to locate commercial water bottling plants in Washington. These plants would allow Washington's water to be taken for the benefit of corporations and users outside of the local area, perhaps out-of-state."</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/18/bottled-water-ban-washington-state" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> noted that the tide is turning against bottle-water manufacturers, with bills also introduced in Michigan and Maine, and local measures introduced in Oregon and Montana.</p>
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The Bulgarian prime minister fired Neno Dimov, pictured above, for mismanagement of a water crisis. EU2018BG Bulgarian Presidency / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
Bulgaria's minister for the environment abruptly resigned after he was arrested and charged for mismanagement of a water crisis in a western Bulgaria city, as the AP reported.
<p>The city of Pernik and its surrounding areas, which is home to about 100,000 people, was the epicenter of antigovernment protests after the city faced severe water restrictions for about two months, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bulgaria-politics-environment/bulgaria-environment-minister-quits-amid-water-crisis-idUSKBN1Z91BC" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. Pernik is 20 miles west of the country's capital, Sofia.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjUwMjIyMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMjg2NzI2NH0.PadTaaaE0XzxxOj_jIR6FSnPwAAkTyaLDKd55i9rUgo/img.jpg?width=980" id="05320" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="323e46c4e1b7f2f3cbd6285ca859f67e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Protest In Pernik
Citizens of the town of Pernik on a procession and public prayer for rain. They have been protesting against the city's water regime and have asked those responsible for the water crisis to bear responsibility. Hristo Vladev / NurPhoto / Getty Images
<p>The former minister of the environment, Neno Dimov, said dry weather and poor management by local authorities caused the water crisis in Pernik. However, prosecutors contend that Dimov allowed water to go to industrial facilities despite knowing that diverting the water would lead to shortages in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" rel="noopener noreferrer">drinking water</a> for Pernik and its surrounding villages, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/b3f6123b1e60794a0be2084c331812e7" target="_blank">AP</a> reported. </p><p>Dimov was arrested late last week and stayed in custody for 72 hours while he denied wrongdoing, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/b3f6123b1e60794a0be2084c331812e7" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p><p>Pernik and the nearby villages source all their water from a single dam, which had drastically decreased when Dimov allowed industrial facilities to use the water. </p><p>"Some 97,000 people will not have normal access to drinking water in the next five months --- which they would have had if the minister had exercised his authority," Prosecutor Angel Kanev told reporters, as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bulgaria-politics-environment/bulgaria-environment-minister-quits-amid-water-crisis-idUSKBN1Z91BC" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.<br></p><p>"This is the biggest damage," he said.</p><p>An investigation by <a href="https://bivol.bg/en" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bivol News</a> showed that mismanagement of the water supply led to the city being left without potable water. It published documents signed by Dimov to allow for the industrial use of water as the reservoir reached a critically low level.</p><p>Furthermore, the <a href="https://bivol.bg/en/new-illegal-diversion-of-waters-for-studena-dam.html" target="_blank">investigative report identified an illegal canal</a> that diverted a significant amount of water from the Studena dam. </p><p>On Thursday, prosecutors raided the offices of the company managing Pernik's water supply utility and Pernik's municipal council. Irena Sokolova, a former district governor of Pernik and Ivan Vitanov, the suspended head of the water and sanitation company were also questioned, according to <a href="https://sofiaglobe.com/2020/01/09/bulgarias-environment-minister-neno-dimov-arrested-reports/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Sofia Globe</a>.</p><p>"Evidence is being collected of crimes committed by officials that led to water supply problems in Pernik," the prosecutor's office said in a statement, as <a href="https://sofiaglobe.com/2020/01/09/bulgarias-environment-minister-neno-dimov-arrested-reports/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Sofia Globe</a> reported.</p>
<p>The water crisis peaked in November when residents were forced to ration water due to a lack of supplies from nearby Studena Dam, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/b3f6123b1e60794a0be2084c331812e7" target="_blank">AP</a> reported. Initially water was available 10 hours a day, but more recently it has been reduced to seven hours a day of water access.</p><p>The rationing is expected to last no more than five months, according to <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/bulgaria-prosecutors-charge-environmental-minister-dimov/30371411.html" target="_blank">Radio Free Europe</a>. </p><p>The water infrastructure in Pernik has not been renovated for more than 50 years. The antiquated structure means that more than 70 percent of the potable water that runs through it gets wasted, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bulgaria-politics-environment/bulgaria-environment-minister-quits-amid-water-crisis-idUSKBN1Z91BC" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. </p><p>The rationing and mismanagement has led to protests and calls for the government to resign. The opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party said it would file a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Boyko Borriso's government, though it is unlikely to pass, according to <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/bulgaria-prosecutors-charge-environmental-minister-dimov/30371411.html" target="_blank">Radio Free Europe</a>. </p><p><a href="https://fyeg.org/news/neno-dimov-resign" target="_blank">The Federation of Young European Greens</a> had previously petitioned for Dimov to resign after he claimed global warming is a fraud, tried to amend legislation that would allow the expansion of a ski resort that would damage the ecology of Pirin National Park, and after he tried to amend the Natura 2000 network to allow construction in protected areas.</p>The European Commission also filed a <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/eir/pdf/report_bg_en.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> that criticized Bulgaria for failing to tackle air pollution and treat urban <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wastewater" rel="noopener noreferrer">wastewater</a> properly.
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Residents of La Chiquita say they don't have adequate access to safe drinking water. David Silva
By Alejandro Pérez, translated by Romina Castagnino
Fifteen years ago, Martha Valencia relied on the nearby river for water and for food. But then oil palm crops arrived in the area and polluted the river, say Martha and her neighbors. The community took the oil palm grower to court, which ultimately resulted in a ruling in their favor.
<p>"It is determined that there had been serious environmental effects in the territory of the communities … which should have been prevented by the Ecuadorian government," the ruling read, and a judge ordered compensation for those affected.</p><p>That was two years ago. And Martha and her neighbors say they are still waiting for things to change.</p>
<h3>No Clean Water</h3><p>The river and the community, both named La Chiquita, are located within the municipality of San Lorenzo in the Esmeraldas province of Ecuador. Logging and oil palm plantations, in addition to its proximity to the Colombian border where drug trafficking and armed conflict is rife, contribute to the area's dubious honor of having the highest levels of poverty and violence in the country.</p><p>Every eight to 15 days, the municipality sends a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">water</a> truck to La Chiquita. The tank fills a 1,500-liter blue plastic tank "but not even that water is clean. We were told by the Municipality to put chlorine before drinking it," says Olga, another community member.</p>
<p>When a new truck does not arrive in town before their tank runs dry, residents say they can buy 20-liter water canisters in San Lorenzo, which last three or four days. However, this option often proves too expensive for community members who must subsist off meager profits from small farms. They say that in that case, they are forced to walk great distances to other rivers.</p><p>There's little in the way of alternatives for people living in the area. According to the National Statistical System and the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC), 16% of San Lorenzo residents are illiterate, which is more than double the national rate of 6.8%. Almost half of its population is engaged in agriculture and fishing due to a lack of industrial development in the area.</p><p>Two years have passed since the Jan. 2017 ruling of Esmeraldas' Provincial Court of Justice, and those affected in La Chiquita are still waiting for the judge to order the provision of drinking water, among other compensations. The ruling also requires the construction of a health center and a school.</p><p>La Chiquita lies in the the Chocó-Darién, an ecosystem that extends from Panama to northwest Ecuador and is known for its unique <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/forests">forests</a> and vast biological wealth – both of which are disappearing at a fast clip due to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agribusiness">agribusiness</a> and other human pressures.</p><p>Oil palm companies are required to have a buffer zone between planted fields and water sources. They must remove any crops that are located less than ten meters (33 feet) from community water sources and replace them with endemic species such as guadua bamboo. According to former environment ministers, a fine is applied "for obvious negligence in the performance of their duties."</p><p>"It is a historic ruling, although it has objections and inaccuracies that must be corrected in its execution," says Manolo Morales, a lawyer and representative of the Corporation of Management and Environmental Law (Ecolex) that sponsored the lawsuit.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ4OTkwMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzkxNTg3Nn0.CxCctPkqgMZ_Bm8EGMQbHz_ee8IfkUzAqZ8-tKI5r9g/img.jpg?width=980" id="75b3e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5beed33c898dbf531c01db76efda48b7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Oil palm cultivation is one of the primary drivers of deforestation in the province of Esmeraldas. Eduardo Rebolledo
<p>The ruling also calls for the Ministry of Environment, together with affected communities, to reforest 500 hectares of degraded land with native species. However, La Chiquita resident Isaha Ezequiel says this is absurd. "Companies are the ones that have polluted and killed the forest but they want <em>us</em> to reforest," he told Mongabay.</p><p>Violence is common in the region. The murder rate in San Lorenzo in 2018 was 96 per 100,000 inhabitants – almost ten times the national rate. The area gained further notoriety that year when a reporting team from the El Comercio newspaper was kidnapped and then killed by FARC dissident groups. The incident occurred in Mataje, a border town near Guadalito, Colombia.</p><p>Although four companies were referenced during the trial, two were included in the ruling: Palmera de los Andes and Palmar de los Esteros (Palesema). Only Palmera de los Andes agreed to comment for this story.</p>
<h3>Never-Ending Battle</h3><p>Oil palm plantations in Ecuador cover about 250,000 hectares (617,763 acres) and are distributed among several provinces. Due to its suitable growing conditions, Esmeraldas has the lion's share.</p><p>Palm oil companies arrived in San Lorenzo in the late 1990s and early 2000s, settling in an area of around 30,000 hectares (74,131 acres) that was later expanded to 50,000 (123,552 acres). The inhabitants of La Chiquita, who are mostly the descendants of enslaved people of African ancestry, say local children began to develop stomach diseases and that they noticed oil and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides">pesticide</a> residue in a river that was their primary water source.</p><p>When La Chiquita residents went into the forest to investigate the cause of this pollution, they discovered that one of the oil palm growers had installed a palm oil mill less than three kilometers upriver that was dumping liquid waste into the water. The same thing was reported by members of the Awá Guadalito indigenous community, who also joined the demand for change and reparations.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ4OTkwNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjI1MTkzMX0.S2TpMCNsFN-rFlwVPso_oU7Kh-JZndeSZcumt7GSN8s/img.jpg?width=980" id="7364f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ac0a4e2a548cd1ddafc72293e13e4ad6" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Aerial view of a young oil palm plantation in Esmeraldas. Eduardo Rebolledo
<p>However, a representative of Palmera de los Andes contends claims of pollution.</p><p>"We have 11 processing pools with strict environmental controls," said Fabián Miño, a lawyer and director of the company's legal department. "It is false that we are the cause of any contamination." He explained that, after the palm oil refinement process, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wastewater">wastewater</a> is treated in each pool until it is decontaminated. "To confirm that the liquid comes out clean from our building, in the last two pools we have fish and seaweed," he said.</p><p>Miño says communities have been manipulated by NGOs with ulterior motives. He claims Ecolex is an environmental organization that receives funds from abroad, and that the organization attacks oil palm growers to justify its activities and budget regardless of the employment and development opportunities plantations create.</p><p>Manolo Morales, of Ecolex, says Miño's accusations are absurd. He says the organization has worked in the area since 1998 helping local communities gain legal rights to their ancestral territories. He claims that in the intervening years the government promoted and encouraged the cultivation of oil palm and that many inhabitants were persuaded to sell their territories to agroindustry companies. He said he made the decision to advise La Chiquita and Guadalito when he learned of the problems they face.</p><p>In 2005, a water quality study by the Al Tropic environmental foundation detected the presence of endosulfan and terbufos in the tributaries that provide water for these two communities. Commonly used as pesticides, these compounds can cause severe illness and death in humans, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies both as Category 1 toxins – a designation reserved for the most dangerous substances. This information was included in a <a href="http://suia.ambiente.gob.ec/documents/10179/242256/03+PLAN+DE+MANEJO+CAYAPAS+MATAJE.pdf/300e86f9-31ef-492a-8b3f-da397583949c" target="_blank">report from the Ministry of Environment (MAE) in 2009</a> and served as the basis for initiating the trial. However, subsequent water studies were not decisive enough to directly hold oil palm companies accountable. Therefore, the judge only partially accepted the claim, ordering the government to fulfill some of the requested reparations to affected communities.</p><p>Ecolex reported that oil palm grower companies were alerted by government authorities before officials went to take water samples looking for the presence of toxins. Meanwhile, Fabián Miño, from Palmera de los Andes, claims that the organization was trying to obtain samples of stagnant water.</p><p>"They went out of their way to find pollution," Miño said. "We have all the environmental certifications, national and international."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ4OTkwOS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NjY1NTc3MH0.JQOvJIM0B7E8d7CWqu_ThpEiuXOtJOQKeM5EHAgOkEY/img.jpg?width=980" id="cea9d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="575e74bb5ddd0eae2eaa648e152525c3" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Satellite image of oil palm plantations in San Lorenzo. Rodrigo Sierra
<p>Isaha Ezequiel and his neighbors say two years have passed and they have seen no progress towards court-mandated reparations. According to Nathalia Bonilla, an environmental engineer and coordinator with the NGO Ecological Action in Ecuador, this is because the judge did not report the verdict to the ministries responsible for carrying them out.</p><p>Because there is a mountain between the towns of Guadalito and La Chiquita, the judge ordered the building of a school in each. However, Bonilla says the Ministry of Education was also not made aware of this ruling.</p><p>Palmera de los Andes reports that it has already begun fulfilling the reparations required by the ruling. However, company representatives say it is doing so because such activities are within its environmental responsibilities and protocols, not because it considers the ruling to be right.</p><p>"We are reforesting as required by the ruling," says lawyer Fabián Miño. He adds that the company has a 1200-hectare (2,965-acre) forest reserve, which was not requested in the reparations, and that the company has an environmental license and provides upwards of 700 jobs to local residents. "They should applaud us and not judge us," he said.</p>
<h3>A Refuge for Many Species</h3><p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation">Deforestation</a> in northern Esmeraldas began well before oil palm moved in. In the 1960s, the government implemented its Northwest Forestry Development project that established 14 forest concessions. According to project data, more than 400,000 hectares (988,421 acres) of dense forest was cleared between 1966 and 1975. Five more concessions were subsequently created.</p><p>"This is how the primary forests of Esmeraldas were cut down," says Walter Palacios, a forest engineer and associate researcher at the National Institute of Biodiversity (Inabio). He explains that the primary forests of northwestern Ecuador are home to around 4,000 species of plants, and says many may have disappeared due to habitat loss without biologists ever knowing them.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ4OTkxMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5OTUwNjA2NX0.3xXSRR5sv5AAoGwphXFzvxiiPtRDdI4A5LjzDknFD1E/img.jpg?width=980" id="74194" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="133882db4ceb21be266165fcc98e3592" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Oil palm plantations in San Lorenzo, Ecuador. Eduardo Rebolledo
<p>The region's protected areas preserve what has been lost to agriculture elsewhere: reserves, rich in orchids and giant ferns, extend to the paramos of the Ecuadorian highlands, providing vital habitat for a multitude of species including jaguars and ocelots. A microcosm of the biodiversity of the Chocó-Darién can be seen in just one of its massive trees. A Sande tree, for example, can be covered by as many as 60 species of ferns, orchids and other plants, its fruit important food for birds and insects.</p><p>According to Walter Palacios, when the palm plantations first appeared in the area, the secondary forests that had regenerated after the mass clearing of the 1960s were cleared once again.</p><p>"A secondary forest no longer has the same species density, it has less wildlife," Palacios said. "However, it is better to preserve them than to turn them into monocultures."</p><p>Of the region's remaining primary forest, Palacios says he hopes that the government spares these areas from the expansion of the agricultural frontier.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ4OTkxNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNTUzODY3M30.AMtr4PbjviNuTaKDjgG5VYLcla7IEAb88QKW-tYYhBs/img.jpg?width=980" id="dc715" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c0cfb8c7cf43e3cfcfca0f4addafea4b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Oil palm crops near the town of San Lorenzo. Eduardo Rebolledo
<p>Residents say conversion of forest to plantations has affected their lives.</p><p>"I used to make with my mother wicker baskets out of Piquigua – an endemic plant," Martha Valencia said. "We used the baskets to transport fish, or the meat of guanta, deer and other animals that we hunted. The forest and the river gave us everything, now we have to go to San Lorenzo to buy the food that was taken from us."</p><p>Residents like Valencia say they know everything they had before will not return in their lifetimes, but that they should still be able to expect clean water. "That is why we need the reparations promised by the ruling," says Wilberto Valencia, another community member.</p><p>The current Minister of Environment in Ecuador is Raúl Ledesma, who assumed the position four months ago. In an appearance before the National Assembly, together with the affected community members, Ledesma offered to further investigate the situation in La Chiquita to verify the damage that Wilberto Valencia and others say is affecting their ability to live. At that same meeting, Ledesma said he was aware that Energy Palma is breaking environmental standards.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ4OTkxNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMDI0NzkzN30.NMhg3Xk97VtVikarIHlwl4T6QZolIunwrA_X8_DB340/img.jpg?width=980" id="328fe" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="e529de6f36be9c720473d60a5000571c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Inhabitants of La Chiquita are fighting against the pollution of their water sources. David Silva
<h3>What Does the Future Hold?</h3><p>Large-scale plantations aren't the only places where oil palm is grown in Ecuador, and advocates of the crop say stricter regulations on its cultivation could hurt small farmers.</p><p>"If there are infractions, justice must act," says Wilfredo Acosta, executive director of the National Association of Palm Oil Growers (Ancupa). "But 89% are small producers and for us, it is an agricultural activity, like any other, that encourages the development of the country."</p><p>In recent years oil palm crops have been beset with "bud rot." As of October 2019, the fungal disease had wiped out 15,000 hectares (37,065 acres) of plantations, according to Acosta. His proposed solution: support farmers with credits and provide, through the Ministry of Agriculture, new seeds that are resistant to this disease.</p><p>Assemblyman Lenin Plaza, a native of Esmeraldas and president of the Committee on Food Sovereignty, together with Ancupa, is promoting a bill in the National Assembly, which has already passed the first debate. One of its objectives is to double palm oil yields for biofuel production, but Plaza says that does not necessarily mean expanding the agricultural frontier with new plantations. "This will depend on the country's demand," Plasa said. "The important thing now is to help the producers."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjQ4OTkyMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDY4ODQzMX0.lsGtkv969Gr1Xh1dJ1eRaPwu3Twsf-23NbO77s5KBuQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="90ff7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="226012e8b64a58ccdbdaf69da704e26a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Assemblyman Lenin Plaza has proposed a law to increase palm oil production. He says it is necessary to help small producers. Cecilia Puebla
<p>Acosta says oil palm expansion could take advantage of underutilized land once used for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/agriculture">agriculture</a> but which has since been abandoned.</p><p>"It's not necessary to expand, it's about optimizing crops," Acosta said. "With that, we take the pressure off the forests."</p><p>However, even if the majority of producers may be small, environmental organizations say large companies control around 80% of land used for oil palm cultivation.</p><p>"The big companies are the ones that benefit," said Nathalia Bonilla of Ecological Action. "What they say about small producers is just a story. [Oil] palm is an activity that uses chemicals that seep into the earth [and] needs large areas, and working conditions are precarious."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/communities-in-ecuador-fight-back-against-palm-oil/" target="_blank">Mongabay</a>.</em></p>Related Articles Around the Web
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As Fracking Companies Face Bankruptcy, U.S. Regulators Enable Firms to Duck Cleanup Costs
24 December 2019
Fracking
Heavy equipment sits on the edge of a rocky stream bank as part of U.S. Bureau of Land Management-Forest Service reclamation efforts for abandoned oil and gas wells in the eastern U.S. Bureau of Land Management
By Justin Mikulka
In over their heads with debt, U.S. shale oil and gas firms are now moving from a boom in fracking to a boom in bankruptcies. This trend of failing finances has the potential for the U.S. public, both at the state and federal levels, to be left on the hook for paying to properly shut down and clean up even more drilling sites.
<p>Expect these companies to try reducing their debt through the process of bankruptcy and, like <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/01/business/murray-energy-coal-bankruptcy-pension/index.html" target="_blank">the coal industry</a>, attempting to get out of environmental and employee-related financial obligations.</p>
<h3>The Bankruptcy of EP Energy</h3><p>In October, EP Energy — one of the largest oil producers in the Eagle Ford Shale region in Texas — <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2019/10/07/major-eagle-ford-player-declares-bankruptcy.html" target="_blank">filed for bankruptcy</a> because the firm couldn't pay back almost $5 billion in debt, making it the largest <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ep-energy-files-largest-u-s-energy-bankruptcy-since-2016-11570204927" target="_blank">oil and gas bankruptcy</a> since 2016.</p><p>EP Energy hasn't produced a profit since 2014 and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-04/apollo-and-elliott-team-up-to-save-ep-energy-stake-in-bankruptcy" target="_blank">Bloomberg reported</a> that the company would need oil to be at "a price closer to $70 per barrel" for EP to be profitable. Oil has not come close to averaging over <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/1369/crude-oil-price-history-chart" target="_blank">$70 a barrel</a> since 2014.</p><p>Despite its financial struggles at current low oil prices, the company plans to continue operating after restructuring and eliminating up to $3 billion in debt. However, EP has not identified any funds that it would be setting aside for well cleanup, which is not unusual for an oil and gas company.</p><p>In response, <a href="https://cases.primeclerk.com/EPEnergy/Home-DocketInfo?DockRelatedSearchValue=182" target="_blank">as part of the bankruptcy proceedings,</a> the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/EP%20Energy%20Govt%20Objections.pdf" target="_blank">U.S. Department of the Interior filed a document</a> arguing that EP Energy is still responsible for its obligations to assure the "decommissioning, plugging, and abandonment" of any of the EP Energy wells that are located on leased federal and tribal lands.</p><p>Ideally, that would mean EP Energy sets aside funds for the proper cleanup and end-of-life processes for its oil and gas wells, which number <a href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:i3sPT5lEYgAJ:https://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2019/10/07/major-eagle-ford-player-declares-bankruptcy.html+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" target="_blank">more than 800 in the Eagle Ford region</a>.</p><p>However, the federal government hasn't even named a number yet for how much that should be. The Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs "are currently still assessing the status of reclamation and plugging and abandonment obligations across the Debtors' onshore federal and Indian leases," writes the Interior Department.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In EP Energy <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bankruptcy?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#bankruptcy</a>, US Interior Department wants to make sure that enough money is set aside for cleanup. For financially struggling companies, cleanup is becoming the tail that's wagging the dog. <a href="https://t.co/LDrnMr01rn">https://t.co/LDrnMr01rn</a></p>— Clark Williams-Derry (@ClarkWDerry) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClarkWDerry/status/1195714652543471616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The federal government is only getting around to assessing EP Energy's potential liabilities once the firm is already in the bankruptcy process, revealing one of the flaws in the current system. Federal and state governments have not been holding fracking companies fully liable for the environmental damage and cleanup costs of their drilling activity.</p><p>Joshua Caleb Macey, a visiting assistant professor at Cornell law school who specializes in bankruptcy and energy law, told DeSmog that the situation with EP Energy was "frustrating and completely normal."</p><p>According to the Interior Department filing, "Regardless of its bankruptcy, the Debtor is required to comply with all applicable federal laws."<br><br>As <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/10/18/public-paying-cleanup-fracking-boom-oil-gas-bonds" target="_blank">I've reported before</a>, oil and gas companies are legally required to hold a certain amount of funds to pay for well cleanup costs, a process known as bonding that varies by state and for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands">public lands</a>.</p><p>Because companies are rarely required to have those funds available before they start drilling (and thanks to industry-friendly regulators and politicians), in reality oil and gas companies can walk away from cleanup obligations with relative ease, which has become the pattern for bankrupt <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal">coal</a> companies.</p>
<h3>Including Cleanup Costs Would Make Extraction 'Uneconomic'</h3><p>Federal and state regulators have been failing to require companies to <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/10/18/public-paying-cleanup-fracking-boom-oil-gas-bonds" target="_blank">fully fund expected cleanup liabilities</a>, which helps mask the true cost of oil and gas production. Passing environmental cleanup costs on to the taxpayer amounts to a backdoor subsidy for the oil and gas industry.</p><p>Requiring oil and gas companies to pay for shutting down and cleaning up wells would greatly increase the cost of drilling for many oil and gas wells. The fracking industry already <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/finances-fracking-shale-industry-drills-more-debt-profit" target="_blank">can't make money</a> pumping <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a> out of shale in the U.S., and that's without these firms coming even close to fully <a href="https://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/as-abandoned-oil-wells-climb-regulators-consider-ways-to-stop/article_58c39a16-73a1-5592-ba5f-fc7c9c50cbcd.html" target="_blank">funding their cleanup costs</a>.</p><p>However, <a href="https://www.aberdeennews.com/news/sd-environmental-board-waits-to-plug-abandoned-natural-gas-wells/article_d0a4518b-1733-5a7a-b5f3-65508e26ad66.html" target="_blank">more state governments</a> are realizing <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/06/758284873/cleaning-up-abandoned-wells-proves-costly-to-gas-and-oil-producing-states" target="_blank">the scale of this problem</a> and starting to look at increasing and enforcing bonding requirements for oil and gas well cleanup. However, in oil-rich places like Alberta, Canada, and Alaska, regulators are realizing that <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-alberta-ignores-the-ticking-time-bomb-of-orphaned-oil-and-gas-wells-at/" target="_blank">the money just isn't there</a>.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hey <a href="https://twitter.com/jkenney?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jkenney</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Alberta_UCP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Alberta_UCP</a> after your sustained attacks on the Liberal government, why are you now begging for taxpayer money to clean up Alberta's abandoned oil wells? Oil companies must pay for that. Not us. Hands off our tax dollars. The oil shareholders should pay. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cdnpoli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cdnpoli</a></p>— Trish Palmer (@TrishPalmerYVR) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrishPalmerYVR/status/1201196546563248129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>In 2018, the natural gas driller Amaroq Resources <a href="https://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/771890741.shtml" target="_blank">acquired the Nicolai Creek assets</a> in southwest Alaska from the bankrupt Aurora Gas. This transaction was delayed when the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) announced $7 million in bonding required for the gas wells associated with the purchase. This is the point where the state government had the power to make Amaroq provide adequate bonding for well cleanup.</p><p>The AOGCC then agreed to reduce that amount to $200,000 and the deal went ahead.</p><p>Since that deal, the commission increased the minimum statewide bonding level to $400,000 per well for the first one to 10 wells. Amaroq would be required to abide by these new regulations and has appealed this decision. Company president Scott Pfoff explained that these new bonding requirements make the business "uneconomic."</p><p>And that is the reality. If oil and gas companies were required to pay for the full end-of-life cost of their wells, much of their inventory becomes uneconomic. This is where taxpayers come in.</p>
<h3>Fracking Industry Wants to Dump Wastewater in Streams and Rivers to Save Money</h3><p>Failure to require <a href="https://medium.com/westwise/new-analysis-taxpayers-could-be-on-the-hook-for-billions-to-clean-up-abandoned-oil-and-gas-wells-b0e1e28d20c2" target="_blank">adequate bonding for oil and gas cleanup</a> costs is just one of many backdoor government subsidies for the oil and gas industry. The failure to regulate <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/01/29/fracking-industry-gas-flaring-problem" target="_blank">flaring and venting of the potent greenhouse gas methane</a> during oil drilling is another example.</p><p>Fracking firms, which spend a lot of borrowed money to pump out a lot of oil and gas for not much (or any) profit, are experiencing a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/frackers-face-harsh-reality-as-wall-street-backs-away-11551009601" target="_blank">collapse in financing</a>. Thanks to the industry's failed business model, these companies are desperate for ways to cut costs.</p><p>One of the major costs associated with hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/09/18/fracking-industry-waste-water-nightmare" target="_blank">acquiring, pumping and disposing of water</a>, which, after a driller is finished with it, typically contains corrosive levels of salts and contaminants including naturally occurring radioactive materials, chemicals and oil residues. This area has become a major target for the industry to save money.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjIxMDU3My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNjE2Njg2Mn0.lMtMV5SmNv1KnJe05RVbuXuKPfhX1WhynPydQ0AKag8/img.png?width=980" id="a58de" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="74142d5134868c830b71c57da8431b80" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A graphic showing the water cycle during hydraulic fracturing. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2016
<p>As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/fracking-is-not-the-cause-of-quakes-rather-its-frackings-wastewater/2015/04/27/e87a6e82-e9f4-11e4-aae1-d642717d8afa_story.html?utm_term=.9934b60ef334" target="_blank">The Washington Post pointed out in 2015</a> (and as I highlighted last year), when it comes to fracked shale oil and gas production, "currently there is no way to treat, store, and release the billions of gallons of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wastewater">wastewater</a> at the surface." The industry's current range of (legal) approaches to <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/09/18/fracking-industry-waste-water-nightmare" target="_blank">disposing of its massive amounts of wastewater</a> involves injecting it underground, which in some cases is tied to increased earthquake activity, using it to irrigate crops or de-ice roads, and sending it to municipal water treatment plants lacking equipment to properly treat it.</p><p>Treating oil and gas drilling wastewater is possible, but expensive. As S&P Global Platts <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/articles/us-oil-drillers-face-growing-issue-of-water-disposal-fuel-for-thought" target="_blank">recently reported</a>, according to a study by the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers and Independent Petroleum Association of America, for Permian drillers in Texas, "Economically, treatment costs must come down."</p><p>The study concludes that dealing with wastewater is already a limiting factor in this prolific region: "Some Permian sub-basins are currently constrained due to insufficient injection well capacity. Projected production growth will worsen the situation."</p><p>With this glut of wastewater combined with high costs, the industry is looking for a cheap alternative. The latest preferred approach seems to be lobbying governments to change the rules to allow dumping wastewater with limited treatment into <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rivers">rivers</a> and streams.</p><p>In November, E&E News reported that there's movement to allow or expand such wastewater dumping in <a href="http://www.eenews.net/stories/1061525917" target="_blank">Oklahoma</a>, Texas, <a href="https://www.koat.com/article/sides-clash-over-benefits-drawbacks-of-fracking/30126134" target="_blank">New Mexico</a> and <a href="http://www.eenews.net/stories/1061647463" target="_blank">Pennsylvania</a>, all states with major fracking industries. "Within a year, Oklahoma could get approval from EPA to start issuing permits that will allow the oil industry to dispose of briny oil field waste in waterways," E&E wrote.</p><p>As space for injection wells becomes scarce, the industry hopes to dump its wastewater in streams and rivers, once again passing on potential environmental and financial liabilities to the public.</p><p>A 2017 working group looking for alternatives for Oklahoma oil field wastewater (also known as "produced water") found "the most cost-effective means of reducing disposal is for oil companies to treat and clean that produced water so it can be reused for things like fracking," <a href="https://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2017/04/27/the-most-practical-alternative-to-quake-causing-disposal-wells-is-reusing-wastewater-research-group-finds/" target="_blank">reported NPR's StateImpact Oklahoma</a>.</p><p>However, recycling produced water to again frack wells results in more toxic produced water, which can't be recycled indefinitely. With injection wells increasingly unable to handle the volume of water produced by the industry, shale firms have been seeking cheap alternative disposal methods, including dumping the water in rivers and streams.</p><p>However, the 2017 analysis concluded that treating produced frack water to the point it could be safely dumped into rivers or used to irrigate agriculture wasn't economically viable.</p><p>Owen Mills, the director of water planning for the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, explained to StateImpact Oklahoma why this wasn't an option for the industry: "It's incredibly expensive to do that and it takes a lot of energy."</p><p>To properly treat the fracking wastewater to the point it is no longer a threat to human health and the environment would be incredibly expensive, and that is why the industry is lobbying to change the rules about disposing its wastewater. If it succeeds, expect the eventual clean up costs — also incredibly expensive — to be billed to the American public.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2019/12/20/fracking-oil-gas-bankruptcies-cleanup-costs-regulators" target="_blank">DeSmogBlog</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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New Lawsuit Challenges Trump Admin's Failure to Update Slaughterhouse Pollution Regulations
19 December 2019
Politics
The JBS pork processing plant at the northeast corner of Worthington, Minnesota on Sept. 4, 2019. Courtney Perry / Washington Post / Getty Images
By Andrea Germanos
The Trump administration's decision not to issue upgraded regulations pertaining to pollution discharge from slaughterhouses into waterways sparked a lawsuit Wednesday from a dozen advocacy groups who say the move puts ecosystems and water supplies at risk.
<p>"By not updating these nationwide standards, EPA is rewarding dirty slaughterhouses at the expense of the public," <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/public-interest-groups-sue-epa-to-curb-slaughterhouse-pollution" target="_blank">said</a> Sylvia Lam, attorney with the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).</p><p>The <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/environmental_health/pdfs/Petition-for-Review-of-EPA-Factory-Farm-Effluent-Guidelines.pdf" target="_blank">lawsuit</a>, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, was brought by <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/animal-rights" target="_self">animal rights</a>, conservation and community groups including Cape Fear River Watch, Center for Biological Diversity and The Humane Society of the United States.</p><p>At issue is the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="_self">EPA</a>'s decision, published in the Federal Register in October, regarding "effluent guidelines." The federal agency said revisions were "not appropriate at this time."</p><p>The groups are challenging that assessment. The regulations for slaughterhouse emissions that go directly into waterways are in sore need of an upgrade, they said. It's also problematic, the groups added, that the emissions that first head to sewage treatment plants before being released into waterways have had no guidelines.</p><p>There's ample cause for concern.</p><p>The nation has thousands of slaughterhouses, many owned by deep-pocketed agriculture giants including Smithfield Foods and Cargill. The majority of these plants, about 4,700, can legally dump processed <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wastewater" target="_self">wastewater</a> directly into waterways or into treatment plants.</p><p>An <a href="https://www.wypr.org/post/investigation-finds-75-percent-large-slaughterhouses-violate-water-pollution-limits" target="_blank">analysis</a> out last year from EIP looked at nearly 100 large meat-processing plants and found that roughly three-quarters of them exceeded their permit limits for nitrogen, fecal bacteria or other pollutants at least once in the time frame studied. The biggest culprit was the Beardstown, Illinois facility owned by JBS. That slaughterhouse dumped 1,850 pounds of nitrogen on average each day into a tributary of the Illinois River. That's the amount contained in raw sewage produced daily by a city with the population roughly the size of Evanston," the Chicago Tribune <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-beardstown-slaughterhouse-pollution-illinois-20181011-story.html" target="_blank">reported</a> at the time.</p><p>Despite the breadth of the problem, federal guidelines haven't changed. The last regulations for the slaughterhouses that put emissions directly into waterways came 15 years ago, the groups said.</p><p>"Some of EPA's technological requirements for slaughterhouses date from the mid-1970s," said Earthjustice attorney Alexis Andiman. "Technology has changed a lot since then, and EPA needs to catch up."</p><p>Meat processing plants, as animal rights groups noted, have adverse impacts that extend beyond the environment.</p><p>"The pace and size of today's slaughterhouses create an extremely dangerous environment, in which animals suffer and toxic waste spews into our waterways," said Stephen Wells, executive director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which is part of the new lawsuit.</p><p>"This contaminates water for wildlife and surrounding communities at unprecedented rates," he said. "The government must do its job to protect people, animals, and the environment — and stop serving corporate interests at our expense."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/12/18/protect-nations-waterways-new-lawsuit-challenges-trump-admins-failure-update?cd-origin=rss" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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A man and his dog walk past an H&M store in Stockholm, Sweden on March 11, 2014. Melanie Stetson Freeman / The Christian Science Monitor via Getty Images
By Ashutosh Pandey
H&M's flagship store at the Sergels Torg square in Stockholm is back in business after a months-long refurbishment. But it's not exactly business as usual here.
<p>In one corner of the store replete with plants and trees, H&M is offering some of its customers the possibility to rent rather than buy from its popular party and wedding collection — the latest bid by the budget fashion chain, which has already been <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/hm-wants-your-old-clothes/a-16630550" target="_blank">collecting used clothes at its stores,</a> to boost its environmental credentials.</p><p>The move comes as the fashion industry, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/can-plastic-recycling-solve-the-fast-fashion-problem/a-44197074" target="_blank">especially fast-fashion companies such as H&M and Zara,</a> faces growing criticism over its carbon footprint and energy use. The industry is one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases and producers of global <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wastewater" target="_self">wastewater</a>.</p><p>"Today, we all can agree that <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fast-fashion" target="_self">fast fashion</a> is not a sustainable business model. That's exactly why we want to take circularity to the next level," Pascal Brun, the head of sustainability at H&M, told DW. "The clothing rental fits perfectly with our goal. It is something we have been wanting to try for quite some time."</p>
<h2>Concept Stores</h2><p>H&M's new service is limited to a selected collection of party dresses and skirts and is available only to customers who have signed up for its loyalty program. Customers can rent garments for around 350 Swedish kronor (€33, $37) a week.</p><p>The concept store also features clothing repair services, a coffee shop and a beauty bar, where customers can get their hair, nails and makeup done.</p><p>H&M is setting up new concept stores as it seeks to boost profit amid <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/hm-sits-on-billions-of-unsold-clothes-as-profits-plummet/a-43175750" target="_blank">slowing sales and growing inventories.</a> An H&M boutique store in Berlin, which opened in October, offers yoga classes, a café and space for external brands.</p><p>"H&M is in 'test-and-learn' mode and will, in due course, look to scale one of its new concepts," RBC retail analyst Richard Chamberlain said in a note to clients.</p>
<h2>Business Viability</h2><p>The Swedish retailer plans to study the rental service over the next three months before taking it to other markets. Brun says the response so far has been "tremendous" with slots required to trial dresses for rent almost fully booked for December.</p><p>But there are some sceptics of H&M's plan, who question its business viability.</p><p>"I can't see that the kind of labor cost involved in a rental model at those price points really makes sense," Credit Suisse analyst Simon Irwin was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.</p><p>Brun says it's too early to make a call on the rental service's profitability prospects.</p><p>"We have done our business case before launching it and hopefully it will show that it's successful," Brun said and added that the company could eventually bring its rental business online.</p>
<h2>Fear of Missing Out?</h2><p>H&M's foray into clothing rentals comes at a time the retailer and other fast-fashion chains are being threatened by a mushrooming of platforms selling and renting secondhand clothes and accessories.</p><p>The secondhand apparel market, excluding clothing rentals, was valued at $24 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow to $64 billion by 2028, according to online fashion resale platform thredUP and retail analytics firm Global Data. By comparison, the fast-fashion market, which was worth $35 billion in 2018, is expected to only touch $44 billion.</p><p>H&M, which is yet to get on the resale bandwagon, owns a majority stake in a Swedish company, Sellpy, that offers a platform for people to buy and sell secondhand clothes and accessories. The Swedish retailer's U.S. rivals, Banana Republic and Urban Outfitters, have already launched clothing rental services.</p><p>"It [the growth in secondhand fashion] comes at a point of time when customers in this part of the world are being responsible and want to be able to consume differently or are being offered to consume differently," Brun said. "We are just here answering to consumer demand."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/hm-tests-renting-clothes-to-boost-environmental-credentials/a-51546103" target="_blank">DW</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Biosolids are applied to fallow wheat fields to build healthy soils at Boulder Park, Washington. King County
By Sarah Wesseler
Talk of natural climate solutions typically conjures up images of lush forests or pristine wetlands. But in King County, Washington, one important natural solution comes from a less Instagram-worthy source: the toilets of Seattle.
<p>After human waste gets flushed out of sight, it's routed to a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wastewater" target="_self">wastewater</a> treatment plant (or, in many rural areas, to a septic tank ). At the publicly owned treatment plants, it's put through a series of mechanical, biological and/or chemical processes that separate water from the solid matter suspended within. The water then is released back into the environment. The solids left behind can be dealt with in one of three ways: incineration, burial in a landfill, or application on the land, typically in the form of agricultural fertilizer.</p><p>The first two options are extremely expensive in many parts of the country. They also have a number of drawbacks from a climate perspective: landfilled solids release <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/methane" target="_self">methane</a>, while incineration releases another powerful greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide. Land application, however, tends to be less of a burden on public finances, and has a number of mitigation and adaptation benefits.</p><p>In King County, treated human waste, also known as biosolids, plays an important part in the county's efforts to combat global warming. "Every year we provide the equivalent of taking about 8,000 cars off the road," said Cat Gowan, a biosolids project manager in the county's wastewater treatment division.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA5OTIwNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NzUwMTc1MX0.aly32C-M0E9-oQJnVI4by5H3JifIa4sQIaQR1UCevxQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="ccfe0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="bba3a9434a2c5b3f69ad8dc786b1d462" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
A manure spreader applies Loop to a farm field. King County
<h2>Robust Communications and Partnerships</h2><p>King County is far from alone in sending its biosolids to farms; about 55% of all treated human waste in the U.S. is added to soils. But the Seattle-area program, which began in the 1970s, is one of the nation's most ambitious. It includes research partnerships with several universities, along with robust communications efforts: the county branded its biosolids as Loop and created a standalone <a target="_blank" href="https://www.loopforyoursoil.com/">website</a> that provides in-depth information about the program.</p><p>Each day, a dozen 31-ton Loop-branded trucks deliver biosolids to farmers throughout the region. According to Doug Poole, who uses it on his crop fields, Loop costs about one-half to one-third less than chemical fertilizer.</p><p>Consisting of about 80% water, Loop is applied in a thin layer with a manure spreader. Fields typically receive applications once every few years.</p><p>Poole took over his farm from his father, who was one of the first growers to use King County biosolids; the program's longest-running research plots are located on the family's land. Poole credits Loop for raising his crop yields between 10 and 40%.</p><p>Andy Bary, a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/soil">soil</a> scientist at Washington State University, has been studying Poole's farm since 1994. His research demonstrates that yields on plots that use biosolids are consistently equal to or higher than those using synthetic fertilizers.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA5OTIxNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDc1MzIxOH0.DQi40vD8ZAIXtBZqc0iUYOxUX6JEdVSWLremGocLO5c/img.jpg?width=980" id="62e5a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1b2ca4311751b268f62d34c26f45d19d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Comparison of wheat root systems grown with conventional fertilizer, left, and Loop, right. King County
<p>The reason? Bary says biosolids provide a broader range of plant-beneficial nutrients than farmers can typically provide through synthetic fertilizers alone. "When you're using biosolids, you're not just putting down nitrogen, which is pretty typical," he said. "You get a broad range of nutrients, the full meal deal – you're getting nitrogen, you get phosphorus, you get sulfur, you get a whole raft of micronutrients." Replicating this cocktail with chemical inputs is prohibitively expensive for most farmers, he said.</p>
<h2>Mitigation, Adaptation Benefits</h2><p>Biosolids-based yield gains have important ramifications for climate mitigation and for adaptation. Producing and applying chemical fertilizers releases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Preventing these emissions without jeopardizing food supplies represents a significant achievement.</p><p>Biosolids also help sequester carbon in the soil, something that's increasingly seen as a promising way to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. In a 20-year <a target="_blank" href="https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/sssaj/articles/81/6/1381">study on Poole's farm</a>, Bary found a significant increase in soil organic carbon in fields where Loop had been applied compared to those where commercial fertilizer, or none at all, was used.</p><p>Soils treated with biosolids also retain more moisture, which, on the mitigation side, can reduce the need for energy-intensive irrigation and pesticides. It's another important adaptation benefit, helping farms become more resistant to drought.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjA5OTIyNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NzgxODM4MH0.6MM_zVVGUG2mgIYUJ01DBSbNSGMJzA8v3YAm8hx-pQk/img.jpg?width=980" id="22596" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="91eeb096c4c443b0c6f9c82df182a2ac" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Documentation of rainfall infiltration and soil moisture retention in agricultural fields treated with Loop, conventional fertilizer, and no fertilizer. More infiltration and moisture retention, as seen in the Loop-treated field, has a variety of benefits, including helping plants resist drought – important from a climate adaptation perspective. King County
<p>Biosolids currently are applied to only about 1% of America's agricultural lands. According to Ned Beecher, a longtime biosolids advocate at the North East Biosolids & Residuals Association, there's simply not enough raw material available to dramatically scale up use. Nonetheless, he estimates that if all solids produced in U.S. wastewater treatment plants were applied to land rather than burned or sent to landfills, approximately 7 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions would be prevented each year. In addition, he wrote in an email, "recycling to soils benefits local economies, improves soils, reduces irrigation needs, etc. – and puts to use a material that has to be managed somehow (biosolids are not optional)."</p>
<h2>Not All Are Fans of Biosolids on Farmlands</h2><p>Still, it's no surprise that not everyone is a fan of using treated human waste on farms. The USDA's organic standards prohibit the practice, as does Switzerland. Anti-biosolids activists cite several reports of health impacts to humans and livestock, accusing EPA and other organizations of cover-ups, conspiracies and lax oversight. Detractors often describe foul odors. Some scientific studies raise concerns that land application of biosolids may spread contaminants.</p><p>In response, proponents point to what they see as decades of successful use on farms like Poole's, and to a substantial volume of studies concluding that biosolids pose little threat. "Early on, there was a lot of concern about pathogens and metal contents," said Andy Bary. But now, "through research from various universities across the nation, there's a huge amount of research showing that if you meet the pathogen reduction guidelines and the trace element reduction numbers, biosolids are very safe, if not beneficial."</p><p>In a recent <a target="_blank" href="https://wordsonwaterwef.com/2019/08/05/words-on-water-99-dr-sally-brown-on-communicating-about-biosolids/">podcast</a> produced by the nonprofit Water Environment Federation, Sally Brown, a soil scientist at the University of Washington, said that it's important to consider questions of origin and scale when discussing biosolids contamination. The chemicals most often cited as concerns – e.g., PFAS "forever chemicals" – enter the sewer from homes, where they're present in much higher concentrations than are found in biosolids, she said.</p><p>There's also a big difference between identifying a contaminant in treated waste and finding enough of it to cause harm. In one recent study, Brown's team sought to understand how much exposure to biosolids an individual would need in order to absorb one dose of pain relief medication. The result: "You would basically have to eat about 30 wet tons of biosolids to get the equivalent of two tablets," she said.</p>
<h2>Willing to Engage With Those Skeptical</h2><p>According to Cat Gowan, a willingness to engage with people who are uneasy about biosolids has helped the Loop program flourish. "Our agricultural project manager, if somebody has a concern about biosolids being applied near their home, he calls them and talks them through it, and they work out a solution," she said.</p><p>But Gowan and her colleagues put most of their outreach efforts into educating the general public, most of whom have never heard of using treated sewage as fertilizer, let alone formed strong opinions on the subject. Local gardeners who use the county's biosolids compost product, which receives an extra layer of treatment to make it safe for use in backyards and community gardens, have become particularly enthusiastic brand ambassadors.</p><p>"People are not as against it as you'd think once you explain to them how it's made," said Ashley Mihle, another King County biosolids project manager. "It's a natural process with microorganisms. It produces this thing that's so great for the soil and helps your plants grow. And if they use it, then they're sold forever."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/11/in-king-county-washington-human-waste-is-a-climate-solution/" target="_blank">Yale Climate Connections</a>.</em></p>
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2 Million Americans Lack Clean Water Access, Especially Native Americans
18 November 2019
Health + Wellness
The Navajo Nation has suffered from limited freshwater resources as a result of climate, insufficient infrastructure, and contamination. They collaborated with NASA to develop the Drought Severity Evaluation Tool. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Native Americans are disproportionately without access to clean water, according to a new report, "Closing the Water Access Gap in the United States: A National Action Plan," to be released this afternoon, which shows that more than two million Americans do not have access to running water, indoor plumbing or wastewater services.
<p>The report is the result of a collaboration from two national non-profit groups, <a href="https://digdeep.org/" target="_blank">DigDeep</a> and the <a href="http://uswateralliance.org/" target="_blank">US Water Alliance</a>. It found that 58 out of every 1,000 Native American households lack plumbing, compared with three out of every 1,000 white people.</p><p>The <a href="http://uswateralliance.org/sites/uswateralliance.org/files/Closing%20the%20Water%20Access%20Gap%20in%20the%20United%20States_DIGITAL.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> noted that an estimated 30 percent of people on the Navajo Nation lack access to running water and must haul water, but local officials report that the actual number may be even higher.</p><p>"We knew the problem was much bigger, but when we went out to look at the data, it didn't exist," said George McGraw, the founder of <a href="https://digdeep.org/" target="_blank">DigDeep</a>, a nonprofit that has helped build water systems on the Navajo Nation, as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/18/779821510/many-native-americans-cant-get-clean-water-report-finds" target="_blank">NPR</a> reported.</p><p>The <a href="http://uswateralliance.org/sites/uswateralliance.org/files/Closing%20the%20Water%20Access%20Gap%20in%20the%20United%20States_DIGITAL.pdf" target="_blank">paper</a> found that many people in the Navajo Nation around Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico had to drive more than 40 miles every few days just to haul home water for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water">drinking</a>, cooking and bathing. That's some of the better access.</p><p>Some Navajo residents drive four or five hours just to fill metal barrels. One study participant spends over $200 month in gas just to fetch water. In Red Mesa, Arizona, residents told researchers that the groundwater supplies are so low in some areas that they have to visit four or five locations to collect the water they need. Female elders reported stockpiling water for emergencies and for the winter, when freezing temperatures make hauling water difficult, according to the <a href="http://uswateralliance.org/sites/uswateralliance.org/files/Closing%20the%20Water%20Access%20Gap%20in%20the%20United%20States_DIGITAL.pdf" target="_blank">report</a>.</p><p>The paper noted that many study participants in the Navajo Nation in the Southwest have under 10 gallons of water at home at any given time. Many use as little as two or three gallons per day, which stands in stark contrast to the 88 gallons per day used by the average American, according to the <a href="http://uswateralliance.org/sites/uswateralliance.org/files/Closing%20the%20Water%20Access%20Gap%20in%20the%20United%20States_DIGITAL.pdf" target="_blank">report</a>. That minimal water use means people in the Navajo nation have to make difficult choices between hygiene and water needed for food.</p><p>"It's hard to imagine that in America today, people are living without basics like safe and reliable water service," said Radhika Fox, CEO, US Water Alliance in a press release.</p><p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/18/779821510/many-native-americans-cant-get-clean-water-report-finds" target="_blank">NPR</a> profiled Darlene Yazzie, an elderly woman who is a member of the Navajo nation. She needs to fill two 50-gallon barrels with water and then drive to a windmill to fetch water for her sheep. The water from the windmill is not fit for human consumption since it has unhealthy levels of arsenic and uranium.</p><p>"A lot of people died of cancer around here," Yazzie said to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/18/779821510/many-native-americans-cant-get-clean-water-report-finds" target="_blank">NPR</a>. "I noticed that more are being diagnosed. I'm pretty sure it's because of the environment and the water."</p><p>The new <a href="http://uswateralliance.org/sites/uswateralliance.org/files/Closing%20the%20Water%20Access%20Gap%20in%20the%20United%20States_DIGITAL.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa">EPA</a>) have both confirmed her hunch. The ground water in the Four Corners area is contaminated by 521 abandoned uranium mines. When uranium mining was at its peak in the 1990s, gastric cancer rates in the area doubled, according to the new <a href="http://uswateralliance.org/sites/uswateralliance.org/files/Closing%20the%20Water%20Access%20Gap%20in%20the%20United%20States_DIGITAL.pdf" target="_blank">paper</a>, as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/18/779821510/many-native-americans-cant-get-clean-water-report-finds" target="_blank">NPR</a> reported. The EPA says that unregulated drinking water sources are the greatest public health risk to the Navajo Nation, according to <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/18/779821510/many-native-americans-cant-get-clean-water-report-finds" target="_blank">NPR</a>.</p><p>The <a href="http://uswateralliance.org/sites/uswateralliance.org/files/Closing%20the%20Water%20Access%20Gap%20in%20the%20United%20States_DIGITAL.pdf" target="_blank">report</a> noted that Navajo tribe members are two to four times more likely to have type 2 diabetes than white people. One of the reasons is that sugar-heavy drinks are more readily available than clean water.</p>
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Maui Mayor Rejects Clean Water Act Settlement, Aims for Supreme Court Hearing
25 October 2019
Popular
The Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility is located near Kaanapali beach, on the west side of Maui. Falco Ermert / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
By Brett Walton
Defying a vote of the County Council, Maui Mayor Michael Victorino said on Oct.18 that he will not settle a Clean Water Act lawsuit that holds national implications for water pollution permitting.
<p>Instead of the <a href="https://mauicounty.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=7709495&GUID=0174EF38-01B7-4BCC-9E3B-ED3672699E7F" target="_blank">settlement</a> that the council authorized last month, Victorino prefers to have the nation's highest court decide whether a wastewater treatment facility on the island requires a federal pollution permit for disposing its effluent. Currently injected underground, the nutrient-rich effluent eventually seeps into coastal waters where it has contributed to algal blooms around coral reefs.</p><p>The case is closely watched because it could determine whether pollution of groundwater that is connected to rivers, lakes and oceans is covered by the nation's primary water-protection law.</p><p>"There are strong opinions on both sides of this important issue," Victorino wrote <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/VictorinoStatement101819.png" target="_blank">in a statement</a> that was posted online. "But leadership is not about making easy, popular decisions. I believe the best interests of our residents, our visitors, and the environment will be best served by having this case settled by the Supreme Court."</p><p>The politics within Maui County, however, are far from settled.</p><p>The council, believing that it has the power to authorize the settlement with the four conservation groups that brought the lawsuit, is preparing to vote on a resolution to ask a Hawaii state court to intervene. That vote will be taken on Oct. 29. If the resolution is approved, the state court will be asked to interpret the county charter to determine which branch — the mayor or the council — has authority to approve the settlement, David Raatz of the Maui County Office of Council Services told Circle of Blue.</p><p>Victorino's announcement and the council's potential counter move are the latest twists in a seven-year legal confrontation. The case centers around the Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility, a wastewater treatment plant on the west side of Maui. The legal concept being tested is known as the conduit theory — whether a facility that discharges pollutants into groundwater that then flows to streams, lakes, or oceans requires a Clean Water Act permit.</p><p>If the concept is applied broadly to groundwater that is hydrologically linked to surface waters, it would expand the number of facilities that need federal pollution permits. Because of that, business and industry organizations such as the National Association of Home Builders, Chamber of Commerce, National Mining Association and American Petroleum Institute and municipal government groups like the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, City of New York, and National League of Cities filed briefs supporting Maui County.</p><p>During the Obama administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sided with the conservation groups. But the agency recently changed course under President Trump. In a non-binding <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-04/documents/interpretive_statement_application_of_cwa_npdes_memo_-_signed.pdf" target="_blank">guidance document</a> released in April, agency officials interpreted the Clean Water Act to "exclude all releases of pollutants to groundwater" from water pollution permitting.</p><p>Federal appeals courts are split. The Ninth Circuit ruled that the Lahaina facility does need a permit, supporting the conduit theory. A similar case in the Fourth Circuit has also been appealed to the Supreme Court. But the Sixth Circuit, in a case involving disposal of coal waste, came to the opposite conclusion. It determined that a permit for a coal ash pond in Kentucky was not necessary.</p><p>The Maui County Council <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/2019/world/clean-water-act-showdown-at-supreme-court-might-be-avoided-for-now/" target="_blank">voted 5 to 4</a> in September to settle the lawsuit brought by Hawaii Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club, Surfrider, and West Maui Preservation Association. The upcoming vote presents a higher bar for approval. A two-thirds vote of the council is required to forward the complaint to the state court, Raatz said. Accordingly, a council member who voted against the settlement would have to flip their vote next week for the measure to pass.</p><p>If the settlement is not approved, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled is hear oral arguments in the case on November 6.</p><p>In his statement, Victorino suggested that he made his decision based on economics and legal clarity.</p><p>"This issue must be clarified once and for all, not re-litigated endlessly at county taxpayers' expense," Victorino wrote.</p><p>When asked for additional information, Brian Perry, the mayor's spokesperson, referred to the statement.</p><p>The settlement addresses legal clarity, as well as other issues. The county agreed to seek a federal pollution permit for the facility, invest at least $2.5 million in projects that recycle wastewater in order to reduce reliance on injection wells, and pay a $100,000 fine. The plaintiffs agreed not to pursue additional penalties or legal action as long as the country is making a "good faith effort" to fulfill its obligations.</p><p>David Henkin is the Earthjustice attorney representing the plaintiffs. He said that the groups are prepared to make their case to the Supreme Court.</p><p>"It's unfortunate that the Mayor has chosen to side with the Trump Administration and the nation's worst polluters, rather than listen to the will of the people of Maui, who spoke out overwhelmingly in favor of settling the case and focusing on addressing the harm the Lahaina injection wells are inflicting on Maui's priceless coral reef every day," Henkin wrote in an email to Circle of Blue.</p><p><em>Brett writes about agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and the politics and economics of water in the United States. He also writes the <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/water-tap/" target="_blank">Federal Water Tap</a>, Circle of Blue's weekly digest of U.S. government water news.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.circleofblue.org/2019/world/maui-mayor-rejects-clean-water-act-settlement-aims-for-supreme-court-hearing/" target="_blank">Circle of Blue</a>.</em></p>
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