Cheney and Pruitt draw attention to $850k EPA grant for Wyoming water protection.
Wyoming will receive nearly a million federal dollars to address water pollution, an award praised by U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.
The $850 million grant will be used for seven state projects that include stream restoration and the reduction of pollutants like selenium in rivers to lakes.
That type of pollution occurs from runoff, when rain and snowmelt carry contaminants from cities, bacteria or pesticides from ranches and pollutants from mines and drilling activities down to Wyoming’s waterways.
“Wyoming’s waters are a precious natural resource that have tremendous impact on our local economy and every facet of our way of life,” Cheney said in a statement Friday.
“The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality deserves to be recognized for crafting effective, efficient and actionable watershed plans worthy of this funding that will help to improve the quality of our impaired waters today and for generations to come.” The Wyoming DEQ received $6.7 million in grant money from the EPA in 2016 and expected about 60 percent of its 2017 budget to come from similar federal programs.
In 2016 alone, the EPA provided $23 million to Wyoming agencies.
Drinking water standards are one of the few areas that state regulators do not control; that responsibility rests with the Denver region offices of the EPA.
“Providing funds directly to Wyoming is an excellent example of EPA partnering with states to help address their unique and critical environmental challenges,” the EPA administrator said in a statement.
“EPA is making investments like this grant to help empower states who know best how to protect resources, and grow their economy while solving real environmental problems in local communities.”