EPA Proposes Its Own Water Quality Criteria, Replaces Two Disapproved Oregon Standards

摘要

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to set water quality standards in Oregon for cadmium and copper to replace state standards the agency says do not meet Clean Water Act requirements. EPA published April 18 its proposed freshwater criteria to protect aquatic life from the acute effects of cadmium and both chronic and acute effects of copper (81 Fed. Reg. 22,555). The metals are considered toxic to salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act. The action comes in the wake of the EPA's disapproval in 2013 of Oregon's criteria for cadmium, copper, aluminum and ammonia and a subsequent lawsuit against the agency by Northwest Environmental Advocates, a group based in Portland, Ore. The group alleged years of EPA foot-dragging culminated in the agency's failure to promulgate its own criteria to replace the ones it disapproved in Oregon (46 ER 1253, 4/24/15).