The last several weeks have been busy on Capitol Hill. A number of different committeess from both sides of Congress have held hearings to discuss the Deep Horizon oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is currenlty pumping out over 200,000 gallons of crude oil in the Gulf every day. The hearings have focused on testimony from both industry executives and government officials.

On April 15th, 2010 the House of Representatives approved the Clean Estuaries Act of 2010 (HR 4715), as amended, which reauthorizes the Environmental Protection Agency's National Estuary Program (NEP) through Fiscal Year 2016 and makes improvements to the program. The bill improves the program's transparency and accountability, promotes coordination among Federal and non-Federal entities, and increases the authorization level for NEP from $35 million to $50 million per year, which will provide funding necessary to include additional estuaries in the program.

The EPA has asked citizens from around the nation to tell them how they can better deal with the most significant problems facing our waters today.  As the agency responsible for implementing and enforcing the Clean Water Act, it is critical that EPA heard from citizens on the importance of protecting our waters.

The EPA asked people to go their web forum website and comment on three discussion topics - the watershed approach, managing pollution from nutrients, and stormwater pollution.

On January 16th, CWN Board member Gershon Cohen was kicked off the Alaska cruise ship wastewater treatment science advisory panel. The group is intended to advise the Department of Conservation (DEC) on how the ships can meet strict pollution discharge limits by 2015. Cohen was initially invited to join the panel on December 23, 2009, but then received a phone call on January 16, 2010 from DEC Commissioner Larry Hartig disinviting him.

Campaing to Safeguard America's Waters  and RCA, with the help of Prince William Soundkeeper, the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, the Alaska Trollers Association, and Cordova District Fishermen United defeated another attempt by the foreign-owned cruise ship industry to overturn a key water quality protection measure passed by Alaska voter initiative in 2006.

Until last Friday, conventional wisdom had it that the Beach Protection Act, was going to sail through the Senate, but the National Association of Clean Water Agencies raised 11th hour concerns about the bill which created an obstacle to passage.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is asking CWN member organizations to consider signing a letter of support for Oceans-21 (HR 21). The sign on letter is accessible through the link at the top of this page. Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans subcommittee staff will bring this bill up for mark-up in April if the votes are there.

On August 7th, NRDC released their 17th annual Testing the Waters guide. Thanks go out to the many Network members that participated in and assisted with the nation-wide release. Follow the links below to read futher on this. 
 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2007-08-07-beaches-water_N.htm

Dear Water Quality Ally,

 The NRDC is currently gathering data from last year’s beach season on beach water monitoring and public notifications related to beach water contamination as we prepare for the release of our 17th annual Testing the Waters report in early August. Over the years Testing the Waters has helped trigger the expansion of beach water monitoring programs across the United States and prompted Congress to pass new laws—particularly the federal Beach Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act of 2000.