Forwarded by Jane Clark from Clean Water Network.
=======================================================
I've been asked to post this for NRDC, PIRG and Sierra Club. It'll give you
a
sense for where some of the national groups stand on the tmdl rules that
were
finalized today.  Other groups have not yet made public statements until
they
have time to read the rule.  If your group has issued a statement or is
going
to, feel free to share it with others through this list server.
Kathy

____________________Forward Header_____________________
Subject:    Fwd:Enviros Applaud EPA Action on TMDL
Author: Daniel Rosenberg
Date:       7/11/00 5:43 PM


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Daniel Rosenberg or Elliott Negin at NRDC, 202-289-6868
            Ed Hopkins or Debbie Sease at Sierra Club, 202-547-1141
                    Liz Hitchcock at U.S. PIRG, 202-546-9707

Environmentalists Hail EPA Announcement
To Improve Controls on Water Pollution
Program Will Cover 'Point' and 'Non-Point' Sources

WASHINGTON (July 11, 2000) – The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC),
U.S.
PIRG, and Sierra Club applauded today's announcement by the Environmental
Protection Agency that it will finalize a new rule to strengthen controls
on
water pollution from "point" sources such as factories and "non-point," or
nonspecific, sources such as agricultural pesticide runoff.

"Today's rule is a critical step to control polluted runoff that damages
our
nation's lakes, streams and rivers," says Daniel Rosenberg, an NRDC
attorney.
"Polluted runoff is the number one water quality problem in this country."

The EPA's action will strengthen the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)
program
just as Congress is attempting to undermine it. A cornerstone of the 1972
Clean
Water Act, the TMDL program is a long-delayed effort to improve water
quality in
lakes and rivers not suitable for fishing, swimming or drinking. Currently
40
percent of our nation's waterways do not meet federal water quality
standards.

In recent years, members of Congress have resorted to provisions known as
riders
to block environmental and public health legislation without providing the
opportunity for public comment. "It's outrageous that politicians continue
to
tack on anti-environmental riders onto unrelated appropriations bills, "
says
Gene Karpinski, executive director of U.S. PIRG. "The result is dirty air
and
water."

Two weeks ago some members of Congress attached a harmful rider to an
unrelated
military construction funding bill to block EPA from finalizing or
implementing
the new TMDL rule. The agency is finalizing the rule before the president
signs
the funding bill into law.

"Polluting industries and their allies in Congress have tried to deny the
American public its right to clean water by attaching damaging legislation
to
bills behind closed doors," says Debbie Sease, Sierra Club's legislative
director, "Today we put the special interests on notice that we will fight
any
attempts to overturn the new EPA rule."

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