skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

A Legislative Storm about Stormwater Runoff

play audio
Play

Friday, March 2, 2012   

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Just when it looked as though the state of Washington was getting tougher on the problem of polluted stormwater runoff, some lawmakers are trying to make it easier for the state to back off.

Multiple bills and amendments would allow builders to delay or avoid using newer, low-impact development techniques to filter or prevent runoff before it gets to waterways and Puget Sound.

Bruce Wishart, who has been following the debate as an environmental lobbyist for People for Puget Sound, says developers and local governments are behind the effort to weaken the state's municipal stormwater permits.

"They acknowledge that these techniques are often much more cost-effective for the developer than traditional stormwater management techniques, but they don't want to be regulated. They don't believe in new regulations that might constrain how they develop."

This year's battle comes just as the Ecology Department is finalizing new rules for stormwater permits. The public comment period just ended, and everyone from fishing guides and business owners to scuba divers and shellfish growers weighed in.

Mo McBroom, policy director for the Washington Environmental Council, says what's happening now in the Statehouse could be a last-ditch effort to affect the outcome.

"It's interesting, because some say that this legislative debate that we're having right now isn't really about passing environmental rollbacks - it's about influencing Ecology's decision-making, as the draft permit is finalized."

In last year's legislative session, opponents of stronger stormwater permits succeeded in delaying the Ecology Department's new rules for a year, and have also said they would prefer that the use of green building techniques to reduce stormwater pollution be voluntary. The final rules are expected in July.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021