Here is the article (hat tip to Catherine O’Neill).
An excerpt:
Legislative bills seek to minimize the economic hit of the new rule, help ensure that paper mills, factories and sewage treatment plants can get variances and cement the Department of Environmental Quality’s second-fiddle role on ranches and farms.
The Legislature’s moves signal that DEQ’s nation-leading standards, in the works since 2004, could end up not doing much.
The new standards, set for Environmental Quality Commission approval in two weeks, would dramatically tighten pollution limits for a host of pollutants, including metals, flame retardants, PCBs, dioxins and plastic additives.
They come amid mounting evidence of toxic pollution in the state’s rivers and nearly two decades after studies showed tribal members along the Columbia River eat far more fish than the general population.
Bills “at the 11th hour” could undercut the standards, said Carl Merkle, environmental planning manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
“We want to see fair implementation (of the new rule) and we know that will occur over a long period of time,” Merkle said. “But we also want to see it effectively implemented, so it’s not just a paper exercise.”
Industry and cities say the uniquely tight standards — in some cases below natural levels in river water — would be impossible to meet without millions of dollars worth of treatment. The rule could discourage new industries from moving in and boost sewer rates, they say.
Turtle Talk 