Prodded by court order, the EPA has increased its
official list of polluted streams and lakes in Idaho from 36 to
800. The agency had been relying on information compiled by the
Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, but the Idaho
Conservation League and Idaho Sportsmen’s Coalition sued, claiming
that hundreds of polluted waterways had been ignored. “We sued
because the EPA rubber-stamped a bad list,” said Glen Stewart,
director of the Idaho Conservation League. U.S. District Judge
William Dwyer agreed and ordered the EPA to draw up a more complete
list that includes Forest Service findings of widespread silting
from logging, road construction and farming. Nearly a quarter of
all stream segments in the state made the new list. A month of
public comment is expected to pare the total somewhat, but all
waterways on the final list must comply with federal clean water
laws, which are stricter than the state’s. Armed with the new list,
environmental groups then hope to go after individual polluters.
Currently, Idaho law exempts nonpoint-source polluters such as
farms and logging or mining operations from meeting state
water-quality standards. For a draft copy of the list, contact EPA
Region 10, 1200 Sixth Ave., Seattle, WA 98101 (206/553-8293).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The list no Idaho stream wants to be on.
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