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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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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.

Critics: Vote This Week Could Undermine Ohio River Water Quality

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Monday, October 1, 2018   

INDIANAPOLIS – A vote this week will determine if Indiana and other states will lose some pollution control standards for the Ohio River.

The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, known as ORSANCO, has provided oversight of pollution levels in the river for more than seven decades.

Commissioners from the eight states involved, including Indiana, are deciding whether to dissolve their standards and allow state and federal standards to take precedent.

Dr. Indra Frank, director of environmental health and water policy for the Hoosier Environmental Council, says it's a precarious proposition for Indiana, which is downstream from other Ohio River states.

"There are at least 490 different permitted wastewater discharges that go into the river before it ever reaches Indiana,” she points out. “So we could be a state that would feel the impact more than others when the standards are lowered. "

Frank explains there are 53 Indiana standards that are weaker than ORSANCO standards, and the state is lacking 50 different chemicals tests that ORSANCO covers.

Commissioners say the standards are redundant, but opponents say dropping them would leave gaps in water protections for the river.

The vote is scheduled for this Thursday.

Frank notes the proposal comes at a dangerous time, as federal leaders are working to weaken Clean Water Act Protections.

And she contends ORSANCO has not fully realized the possible repercussions.

"The commission has not studied how loss of these standards will impact permitting, water quality or state regulations,” she states. “And in the absence of that careful study of what the consequences would be, this is really a very drastic step to take. "

Commissioners argue that without having to focus on water quality standards, resources can be directed towards water monitoring and research, and other programs.


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