skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

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

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Inslee Pitches New Water Quality Rules; Groups Hear "More of Same"

play audio
Play

Thursday, July 10, 2014   

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Gov. Jay Inslee is proposing an update to the state's water quality rules. On its surface, it sounds like good news for fans of Northwest-caught seafood. But commercial fishermen and four 'water-keeper' organizations are saying it's too little, too late.

They're in federal court, asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish tougher standards for dumping hazardous waste into waterways.

Chris Wilke, executive director of Puget Soundkeeper, said changes to the state rules should already have been made.

The Washington State Department of Health posts restrictions on eating fish caught from certain lakes and rivers on its website. These include a warning to eat no more than two meals a month of resident Chinook salmon from Puget Sound. Health officials have determined PCB contamination made the fish unsafe to eat in greater quantities.

"What we're talking about is not consumption advice," said Wilke. "It's about water quality standards to prevent a worsening of our wastewater discharges."

He added the governor's proposal does not change the standard for PCB amounts.

Gov. Inslee acknowledged that the current standards are out of date, focus on industrial waste, and don't account for a new generation of toxic chemicals. He has proposed a draft plan from the Ecology Department by the end of September.

The groups asking the EPA to step in say they appreciate the latest push. But attorney Jannette Brimmer with Earthjustice, who represents the groups, said it sounds like another delay.

"For the last several years, the state makes a deadline and breaks it, makes a deadline and breaks it," explained Brimmer. "This has happened repeatedly under two administrations. They push it out roughly another six months, but that six months comes and goes. This is just another in a long string."

Water-keeper groups say they're glad the state's new calculations increase the average amount of fish that people can safely eat. But they also decrease the risk rates for non-cancer-causing chemicals, resulting in changes the groups say aren't sufficient or realistic.

The governor's announcement on Wednesday also included the release of a new Clean Water Policy Brief.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

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