Whether it's Minnesota or Michigan or another state, too many of our environmental agencies now routinely overlook the plain language of the Clean Water Act:
"1) it is the national goal that the discharge of pollutants
into the navigable waters be eliminated by 1985;
2) it is the national goal that wherever attainable, an interim
goal of water quality which provides for the protection and
propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and provides for
recreation in and on the water be achieved by July 1, 1983;"
Also -- permits issued to polluters are called NPDES, which stands for National Pollution Discharge ELIMINATION System, not National Pollution Tolerance System.
Here's a case in point of a plain misreading of the Act from today's St. Paul Pioneer Press:
"Every day, cities dump hundreds of pounds of a nutrient important to plants, but potentially deadly to fish, into the Minnesota River.
Now, a year before Minnesota launches plans to clean phosphorus from the river, a dispute over how best to do that job has unfolded, with an environmental group contending the state's approach is illegal, too slow and fraught with uncertainty.
Four times this year, for example, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has renewed discharge permits for wastewater treatment plants that exceed recommended phosphorus levels, sometimes by seven-fold. Moreover, the agency said it intends soon to approve other permits that also surpass that target.
"We are saying that is contrary to federal and state law and is not good for the river,'' said Kris Sigford, water quality program director for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, which is contesting the renewals in court.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/10241878.htm