Environmental Experts Criticize Trump Administration for Repealing Water Protections.
Now, economists and regulatory experts are going public with their belief that the economic analysis contained in the proposal is deeply flawed.
“I am not normally this dismissive, but this is the worst regulatory analysis I have ever seen,” David Sunding, a University of California-Berkeley agricultural economist who conducted an industry-funded economic analysis of the rule in 2014, said in an article published Thursday (July 27) in Bloomberg BNA.
The rule, enacted by former President Barack Obama, was created to better define what bodies of water the Clean Water Act protects.
Its goal is to prevent pollution from entering smaller streams and rivers that feed into larger ones, in an effort to keep drinking water sources clean.
According to The Guardian, if the rule were allowed to go into effect, it would protect the water of a third of U.S. residents, or roughly 100 million people.
As Colorlines previously reported, “People of color, including tribal communities, border communities and many living in rural areas, already disproportionately lack access to clean drinking water.” Within five weeks of being in office, Trump signed a February 28 executive order directing the EPA to review the rule.
According to ThinkProgress, “Repealing the rule has been a priority for industry—including manufacturing, fossil fuel,and big agriculture — which has argued the rule constitutes government overreach that would result in higher costs and more regulatory red-tape for businesses.” In compliance, the Scott Pruitt-run agency issued the June proposal.
Others argue that the analysis only focuses on the costs—and not the benefits—of keeping the rule in place.
“The Trump Administration is saying that those studies that indicate the benefit of wetlands are not reliable, so we’re just going to basically not have any accounting for any economic benefit of protecting wetlands,” John Rumpler, senior attorney for Environment America, told ThinkProgress.

NEWS WORTH NOTING: Coyote Creek feasibility study among first in the nation to receive Army Corps assistance under new federal law; San Joaquin River Restoration Program to resume restoration flows; CalDesal calls for approval of Huntington Beach desal pl.
Coyote Creek feasibility study among first in the nation to receive Army Corps assistance under new federal law From the Santa Clara Valley Water District: In an action that will be among the first in the nation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to partner with Santa Clara Valley Water District to develop a feasibility study for reducing flood risks on Coyote Creek in Santa Clara County.
“We need to prevent the sort of flooding San Jose suffered earlier this year.” “This feasibility study is a necessary action to better understand the flood risks facing the communities on and around Coyote Creek,” said Congressman Khanna.
Section 1126 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2016 provides the water district with the ability and flexibility to advance an Army Corps feasibility process without federal funding or approvals.
While the water district will pay the Army Corps for the services provided, the agreement is a first step in establishing a federal interest in an eventual project.
The current Restoration Administrator recommendation schedules 191,575 acre-feet as Restoration Flows, with the balance of 364,967 acre-feet as Unreleased Restoration Flows.
Reclamation will reduce Restoration Flows as necessary to maintain compliance with the Seepage Management Plan.
CalDesal Calls for Approval of World’s “Most Technologically Advanced and Environmentally Sensitive” Desal Project Organization requests immediate approval from state agencies From Poseidon Water: CalDesal – a non-profit statewide organization composed of water industry leaders – today called on state agencies, including the State Lands Commission, to quickly approve the proposed desalination project in Huntington Beach, which will consist of groundbreaking technology to reduce energy use and protect the ocean ecosystem.
For more information on Poseidon Water and the Huntington Beach desalination facility, visit http://HBfreshwater.com.
——————— About News Worth Noting: News Worth Noting is a collection of press releases, media statements, and other materials produced by federal, state, and local government agencies, water agencies, and academic institutions, as well as non-profit and advocacy organizations.

Army Corps of Engineers developing drought contingency plan for Savannah River Basin.
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Homeowners have been complaining about low lake levels on Clarks Hill for year.
But many homeowners along the lake are focused on recreation and their property value.
To them, lake levels is a secondary concern.” The proposed drought contingency plan would raise lake levels during droughts by restricting the water released from Thurmond Dam.
“When you have a drought, it has a big impact on a lot of different things…all our authorized project purposes,” Simpson said.
“The lake level is definitely going to be higher with what they’re proposing, and we’d like to see it still higher than that,” Clontz said.
The tentative plan would not noticeably change the water level on the river between Augusta and North Augusta, according to Simpson.
The Corps is taking public comments on their proposal until 12 p.m. Thursday.
You can review their study here.

With less than a day left in a 30-day comment period on a new drought-contingency plan, the US Army Corps of Engineers came to North Augusta on Wednesday to see if area residents had any.
They did, and not many of them were congratulatory.
“I’m tired of my dock sitting on dirt,” said Joann Skinner.
“Now there’s grass growing up around it and my husband has to go down there and cut the grass.” Corps personnel told her the new plan, which would release water from the lake sooner in times of drought – “triggering” when the lake drops to 324 feet above sea level instead of 316 feet – would help stabilize lake levels.
But when others began chiming in with similar complaints, and questioned whether officials considered recreational users of the lake in their plans, Nathan Dayan, of the Corps’ Planning Division, told them: “One of (the Corps’) authorized purposes is recreation.
It includes the new “trigger” and will, according to information presented at Wednesday’s workshop: • Maintain pools — like the one Augusta and North Augusta rely on — at slightly higher levels during droughts • Increase the number of days lake beaches would be closed • Increase number of days boat ramps would be available • Improve fish-spawning habitats It would also cut the typical amount of water released during a drought from 4,000 cubic feet per second to 3,800 .
The Corps is required to keep the flow in the river at a minimum of 3,600 cubic feet per second to maintain oxygen levels for fish.
The lake level was 324.6 feet above sea level, about 5.5 feet below its full pool of 330.
Alternative 2 is now considered the Tentative Selected Plan.
The Corps is supposed to respond to comments by Aug. 9, and complete a final Savannah District report by Sept. 4.

For more than six months, despite recent rainfall, the Savannah River basin and counties on both sides of the river have struggled through drought status.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Department and the U.S. Drought Monitor currently list Richmond and Columbia counties in level 1 drought status, and counties up river have been listed in higher categories since earlier this year.
Birdwell said the current drought contingency plan has different thresholds to initiate water flow control from the dams at Lake Hartwell and Thurmond Lake.
Current lake levels are low enough that the Corps is in what they call trigger level two.
While tributaries below the dam help flow rates downstream, industry and municipalities depend on the water for production and clean drinking water.
The Corps studied several different contingencies, including a “no action” plan.
“The flow will change downstream as we reduce the water flow, which it does now anyway,” Birdwell said.
Birdwell noted two dams on the river, the hydroelectric dam at Steven’s Creek and the New Savannah River Bluff Lock and Dam, are pass through dams.
“The water flowing into those dams flows right back out.
Birdwell said the new plan to conserve water sooner than the current plan allows would be beneficial to residents and would maintain a steadier flow throughout times of drought.

New Corps plan will help lake levels during drought.
A new drought plan by the Army Corps of Engineers could put more water back into Lake Hartwell.
The Corps plans to release water slower as drought conditions begin.
For example, for a level three drought trigger, the Corps plans to raise the water levels from 646 feet to 652 feet.
The Corps hopes to have the plan in stone by the end of September.
But as they work out the kinks, they want to hear from you on if these changes help or hurt you as a consumer.
You have until noon on July 13th to send the Corps your comments.
To read the full study, click this link Savannah River Basin Drought Study.
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Corps rolling out proposals for new drought management plan.
Releases would be slowed down earlier during severe droughts; Corps taking public input on proposal until mid-July Lake Hartwell users have until mid-July to look over possible changes to how the Corps of Engineers copes with drought conditions.
The changes in a draft proposal released this week by the Corps’ Savannah District office include reducing downstream releases during droughts.
“There will be more flow reductions, and we bring them earlier in the drought.” The actual release numbers recommended will apply to the Lake Thurmond dam.
The proposal calls for Thurmond releases to be 4,000 cubic feet per second during Level 1 drought conditions, 3,800 cfs during Level 2 conditions between February and October and 3,600 cfs from November to January.
Corps spokesman Billy Birdwell said the recommended option – known as Alternative 2 – “offers the most potential benefit and least negative impact … this one has the best balance.” The study states that none of the changes would upset local water supplies, economic conditions or the ecology of the 300-mile-long Savannah River Basin, which includes the three Corps lakes, the Keowee and Jocassee reservoirs operated by Duke Energy and the river south to the Port of Savannah.
Lake Hartwell sat at 653 feet above sea level Wednesday, some seven feet below full summer pool.
More: Foundation makes first round of grants to Pickens County schools "We’ve experienced a drastic turnaround in just two months’ time," said Pickens County naturalist Dennis Chastain, a member of the drought committee.
“We’ve had a number of questions about water management from the public, especially during drought,” Melissa Wolf, chief of the Natural Resources Section for the Savannah District, said in a news release.
Bailey said his staff would get together with The Nature Conservancy and state officials to review that input, then submit a final plan to the Corps’ regional office in Atlanta for approval later this year.

NEWS WORTH NOTING: New PPIC report: Building drought resilience in California’s cities and suburbs; Folsom Dam Water Control Manual update out for public review; Lawsuit filed against DWR over Oroville Dam records.
This report looks at evolving state and local roles in managing urban water supply during drought, and lessons to help us better prepare for droughts of the future.
Folsom Dam Water Control Manual update out for public review From the Army Corps of Engineers: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District released a draft environmental document today addressing the proposed Folsom Dam Water Control Manual update.
The JFP includes a new control structure and a 3,027-foot-long spillway that will work in conjunction with the main dam to manage releases from Folsom Reservoir.
Public meetings are scheduled for June 14-15, 2017, to allow the public to learn more about the proposed update, ask questions of Corps staff and to submit comments.
The public meetings will be held: Wednesday June 14, 2017; 3-4:30 p.m. Sacramento Library Galleria 828 I Street Sacramento, CA 95814 Thursday June 15, 2017; 6-7:30 p.m. Folsom Community Center 52 Natoma Street Folsom, CA 95630 Scheduled for completion in October, the JFP is an approximately $900-million cooperative effort between the Corps, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Central Valley Flood Protection Board, California Department of Water Resources and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency designed to improve the safety of Folsom Dam and reduce flood risk for the Sacramento metropolitan area.
Lawsuit Filed Against DWR over Oroville Dam Records From AquAlliance: AquAlliance filed a lawsuit in state court on June 6, 2017 against the California Department of Water Resources (“DWR”) over its failure to release records related to the Oroville Dam main and emergency spillways crisis that started in February 2017.
On April 19, 2017 AquAlliance filed a Public Records Act (“PRA”) request to DWR to release records that explicitly pertained to the asbestos.
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——————— About News Worth Noting: News Worth Noting is a collection of press releases, media statements, and other materials produced by federal, state, and local government agencies, water agencies, and academic institutions, as well as non-profit and advocacy organizations.

Michigan, Ohio residents ask for revocation of Rover pipeline permit.
ANN ARBOR, MI – Groups of Michigan and Ohio residents are banding together to ask the Army Corps of Engineers to revoke a permit for the Rover gas pipeline project, under construction by the same company that built the Dakota Access pipeline.
A gas pipeline company is closer to constructing in Lenawee, Washtenaw and Livingston counties, but must complete tree clearing by March 31 to preserve an endangered bat.
Opponents of the pipeline are looking to have the Army Corps revoke ET’s blanket permit for construction, citing horizontal directional drilling practices that have damaged wetlands and killed aquatic animals at water crossings in Ohio.
According to the letter submitted to the Army Corps May 31 by Lodge and Talbott, the ET Rover project was cited for 18 pipeline-related spills in Ohio with most involving water pollution within the first two months of construction.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) halted any new work involving horizontal directional drilling on the pipeline on May 10 in a letter to ET.
"We’ve been trying to understand the pipeline and the process and the FERC process, and the environmental impact and what it means for our local communities," Rowley said.
Another letter calling for the withdraw of the blanket permit was sent to FERC, in addition to the Army Corps, Rowley said.
Removal of the blanket permit would require the company to seek site-by-site drilling permits, and likely delay construction of the ET Rover pipeline.
Rowley, who has been monitoring the project since 2014, said he hopes Rover pipeline construction into Michigan is halted for good.

WCM approved, new drought operations started.
Within days of signing a Decision of Record for an updated water control manual, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initiated new drought control measures on the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system.
At 1,062.46 feet, the ACF’s largest reservoir was still about eight and a half feet below summer full pool of 1,071 feet.
Hopes for a rainy spring to replenish the lake in time for summer recreation went unfulfilled in March and most of April.
When the lake level drops to 1,064 feet, no water is left in the swim areas.
The recently updated ACF water control manual, approved March 30, includes a revised Drought Contingency Plan that initiates drought operations when the federal reservoir projects’ composite conservation storage reaches Zone 3 instead of the lower Zone 4.
“It is unusual to initiate drought operations when two of the three reservoirs are full, but doing so provides the opportunity to conserve water as conditions are expected to get worse,” she said.
The WCM requires that drought plan provisions remain in place until the composite conservation storage reaches Zone 1.
“These manuals provide the framework on how the federal projects in the ACF River Basin will be operated.” The manual, which grants Georgia all the water it requested from the ACF, has provoked the ire of Florida officials, who claim it deprives their state of water needed to sustain the ecology and economy of Apalachicola Bay.
The Corps also contends that the new drought operations plan will improve the resilience of the system during drought.