Document text
CLOUDY Temp: 76 °F Wind: NW at 6 mph Thursday, June 27, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA Cyberchef E The People Golf Job Network Headbone Zone Wellness Connection Movie Times Newspaper in Education Oregon CarZone Outdoor Journal Personals Prime Times Real Estate Tempo A & E TV Times W3 Magazine CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Destinations Automotive Communities Employment Entertainment Publications Real Estate Recreation Shopping Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Jobs @ Mail Tribune Email Story to a Friend June 16, 2002 Bureaucratic inertia muddies the waters of herbicide use By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune After the U.S. 9th Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled early last year that federal permits are required before pollutants could be discharged into public waterways, Cindy Deacon Williams figured the ruling was as clear as the pure water of Crater Lake. But the fisheries scientist says recent actions by state and federal government agencies have muddied the waters. In a memorandum released this year, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared that no permit is required if an irrigation districts follows agency-approved labels when using herbicides. "Unfortunately, the Bush administration EPA is still ducking the question," Williams said. "They are not providing the state with legal or technical support or just basic guidance. The state is trying to develop the permitting process in a vacuum." The mutual agreement and order (MAO) by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality issued in mid-May also runs counter to the appellate court decision, she said. The temporary order allows the use of acrolein without the federal discharge permit. Ten irrigation districts in Oregon have already been issued MAOs, according to the DEQ. Neither an EPA nor a DEQ representative was available late Friday afternoon to comment. A DEQ spokesman told the Klamath Falls Herald and News newspaper late last month that the agency was in "uncharted territory, and the requirements aren’t clear." They are clear to Williams. "If chemicals are used by the TID or any other district, it clearly needs to be approved through the (1972) Clean Water Act process," she said, noting that includes obtaining a federal permit. "This has made the short-term solutions for districts like TID who are trying to do it right and comply with the law far more difficult," she added. No permit process is yet in place for districts to comply in a reasonable and easy fashion, she said. "It penalizes the good guys like TID because of the state decision to go with an MAO rather than a Clean Water Act permit," she said. "Members of an irrigation district shouldn’t have to be legal experts," added Tonya Graham, Headwaters’ executive director. "They should be able to rely on the federal government." TID board member Ron Meyer said there was no infrastructure in place to obtain the permit when the problem surfaced in his district. "Evidently, the regulating agencies didn’t realize it was needed for this application or they were lax," he said. "We were asked to have something that didn’t exist." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy web master feedback A D V E R T I S E R S