• Regional Water News    
• Illness in Louisiana's Barataria Bay's dolphin population are likely related to the BP oil spill, according to the preliminary results of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) report released March 26, 2012.  Another new NOAA study pin-points the BP spill as the source of contamination that is slowly killing numerous colonies of deepwater corals.  More about the NOAA's reports can be found in Voice of America News's article, NOAA Scientists Confirm BP Oil Spill Harms Dolphins and Deep-Sea Corals, and in UPI's article, NOAA links dolphin illnesses to BP spill. 

• On March 22, 2012, Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority unanimously voted to adopt the Final Draft of Louisiana's 2012 Coastal Master Plan.  The vote takes place after three months of public input and revisions.  The Coastal Master Plan now heads to the Legislature, where lawmakers will vote to approve or deny the 50-year, $50 billion plan.  For more information, read The Daily Comet's article, Master plan approved by coastal board.  An additional viewpoint can be found in The Times-Picayune's editorial,  Adopt Louisiana's coastal restoration blueprint: an editorial.  The full text of Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan can be found here.

• In light of the recent debate of the Sewer and Water Board's new proposal to more than double customer rates for water and sewer services by 2016, some have questioned the amount of water the agency gives away to public institutions for free.  To read more about the debate over the more than 800 million gallons of drinking water and sewer services the S&WB gives away read The Times-Picayune's article Doubling water rates debated as S&WB gives away millions of gallons for free. 

• The Mayor of Plaquemine, LA, Mark "Tony" Gulotta, announced February 12, 2012 that Dow Chemical Co. will pay to replace the city's sand-based water filtering beds with new carbon-based beds.  Carbon-based beds provide more efficient filtration and will hopefully assist the city in avoiding a repeat of an emergency that took place in the 1990s when the city's aquifer tested positive for the chemical vinyl chloride.  For more on Dow's efforts to help the city protect its water supply read The Times-Picayune's article,  Dow to pay for water-filter beds in Plaquemine. 

• Recent rainfall has helped decrease the salinity of water in Vermillion Parish canals, which many farmers in the area use to irrigate salt-sensitive rice crops.  Salt water incursion in the area has been exacerbated by damage to the Leland Bowman Lock, which was built to keep salt water from flowing inland from the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.  The drop in salinity comes as the Army Corps of Engineers repairs the damaged section of the lock.  For more see The Times-Picayune's February 12, 2012 article, Rain flushes salt water from La. canals.

•  National Water News
  • The Great Lakes Commission and a group representing the mayors of dozens of Great Lakes cities recently released a new study finding that the natural divide between the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes can be rebuilt.  To read more about the study and the three options being offered to fill the divide see The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's article Report says Great Lakes divide can be rebuilt.     
   

• Federal Water News   
  • In a ruling against the EPA delivered on March 21, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States held that unilateral administrative orders constitute "final agency action" under the Administrative Procedure Act.  The Supreme Court's decision confirms that federal courts have jurisdiction to review unilateral administrative orders. The Supreme Court's entire decision can be read here: Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency.   To read more about the couple challenging the EPA's order see NPR's story: U.S. Supreme Court: Idaho couple can take EPA to court.
   
  • The "Clean Water Affordability Act," a bill that would create a $1.8 billion grant program to aid financially distressed communities as they update their sewage infrastructure, was reintroduced by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D. - Ohio) February 9, 2012.  According to E&E Daily, "[n]ationwide, EPA estimates that communities require $63 billion worth of upgrades to combined sewer overflows."  The bill was originally introduced by Sen. Brown and co-sponsor Sen. George Voinovich (former R. - Ohio) in 2008.  The original version of the bill is available here.  Read more from E&E Daily on the bill's reintroduction: Ohio senator proposes $1.8B grant program for updating sewer infrastructure.  Information about the bill's possible impact on Ohio is available through 88.5 WMUB Oxford's story, Senator Brown introduces Clean Water Affordability Act.  

    

  • The House Natural Resources subcommittee will hold a hearing to examine environmental impacts and their impacts on construction of new dams and reservoirs in the Western United States.  To read more about Chairman Tom McClintock (R-Claif.) of the Water and Power Subcommittee allegations that environmental concerns and overly burdensome regulatory requirements stand in the way of job creation and agricultural growth see Environment and Energy Daily's story, "Panel to spotlight regulatory impediments to building dams, reservoirs."   
   
  • Last November, the EPA Science Advisory Board assembled the Environmental Economics Advisory Committee Augmented for the Consideration of the Value of Water to the U.S. Economy.  The panel of 19 economists, engineers, and scientists was tasked with developing a report on the importance of clean water to the U.S. economy.  For more on the panel and steps the EPA is taking  see the EPA's website here. 
   

 Water Resources Law Blog   

  Congress' denial on carbon emissions is risky: Oliver Houck - 3/29/11  

 While Louisiana struggles toward protecting itself from stronger storms and rising seas, a strange debate is unfolding in Washington that could moot the question.  To leaders of this debate in both houses of Congress, climate change is not happening... read more