ENVIRO-NEWS

EPA Water Headlines for week of November 15, 2010. The Hydrofracturing report is of particular interest to me.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Makuch, Joseph" <Joseph.Makuch@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Nov 15, 2010 2:22 PM
Subject: [ENVIRO-NEWS] EPA Water Headlines for the week of November 15, 2010
To: <Enviro-News@ars.usda.gov>

-----Original Message-----
From: Amy Han [mailto:han.amy@epamail.epa.gov]
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 12:23 PM
Subject: [waterheadlines] Water Headlines for the week of November 15,
2010

Water Headlines for the week of November 15, 2010

Water Headlines is a weekly on-line publication that announces
publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Office of Water

In This Week's Water Headlines:

1) EPA Finalizes Standards to Protect Florida Waters Action to reduce
nutrient pollution in lakes and flowing waters, provides strong
environmental protection and significant flexibility for Florida's
communities and businesses

2) Eight of Nine U.S. Companies Agree to Work with EPA Regarding
Chemicals Used in Natural Gas Extraction: EPA conducting congressionally
mandated study to examine the impact of the hydraulic fracturing process
on drinking water quality; Halliburton subpoenaed after failing to meet
EPA's voluntary requests for information

3) Analysis of the Use of Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
Set-Asides: Promoting System Sustainability

[deletions]

1) EPA Finalizes Standards to Protect Florida Waters Action to reduce
nutrient pollution in lakes and flowing waters, provides strong
environmental protection and significant flexibility for Florida's
communities and businesses
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized protective
standards to help reduce water pollution that causes harmful algae
blooms - the thick, green muck that fouls clear water - which can
produce toxins harmful to humans, animals and ecosystems across the
state of Florida. The blooms are caused by phosphorous and nitrogen
pollution from excess fertilizer, stormwater and wastewater that flows
off land into waterways. The final standards set specific numeric limits
on the amount of nutrient pollution allowed in Florida's lakes, rivers,
streams and springs. These specific limits will provide much needed
predictability and clarity to all involved in protecting water quality
compared to the current general standards. Currently, more than 1,900
rivers and streams, 375,000 acres of lakes, and 500 square miles of
estuaries are known to be impaired by nutrients in Florida.

These new standards will become effective 15 months from now, allowing
cities, towns, businesses, other stakeholders and the state of Florida a
full opportunity to review the standards and develop strategies for
implementation while Florida continues to recover from the current
economic crisis.

EPA engaged in extensive public outreach and consultation with Florida
stakeholders by conducting 13 well-attended public hearing sessions in
six cities in Florida during a three-month public comment period. The
Agency received over 22,000 public comments on our original proposal.
EPA worked in close consultation with the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection, along with local experts and government
officials, to ensure that the best available science formed the basis
for the standards and that implementation would be flexible and
cost-effective. Florida's environmental agency is committed to
protecting Florida's water quality, has a high level of scientific
expertise, and one of the country's best databases on the condition of
its waters, all of which played a critical role in shaping the final
numeric standards.

During the 15-month period before the numeric standards take effect, EPA
will work closely with the state to determine the next steps to achieve
the objectives of the standards. The standards do not take a
"one-size-fits-all" approach, but reflect conditions in five different
watershed regions and allow for case-by-case adjustments based on local
environmental factors while maintaining water quality. Governments or
other stakeholders can seek special consideration in cases where the
state and local communities have extensively assessed water bodies and
effective measures are in place to reduce nutrient pollution.

The Florida Wildlife Federation filed a 2008 lawsuit against EPA,
resulting in a finding by the previous Administration in January 2009
under the Clean Water Act that nutrient pollution standards are
necessary for Florida. The resulting settlement, reflected in a consent
decree entered in August 2009, requires EPA to adopt specific or
"numeric" nutrient pollution standards for lakes and streams by November
2010. The final rule complies with this consent decree. Under the
decree, EPA is required to issue additional standards for Florida's
coastal waters by August 2012 and will soon submit the underlying
science for these standards to its independent Science Advisory Board
for peer review.

For more information on the final standards for Florida lakes, springs
and streams: http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/florida_index.cfm


2) Eight of Nine U.S. Companies Agree to Work with EPA Regarding
Chemicals Used in Natural Gas Extraction: EPA conducting congressionally
mandated study to examine the impact of the hydraulic fracturing process
on drinking water quality; Halliburton subpoenaed after failing to meet
EPA's voluntary requests for information
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that eight
out of the nine hydraulic fracturing companies that received voluntary
information requests in September have agreed to submit timely and
complete information to help the agency conduct its study on hydraulic
fracturing. However, the ninth company, Halliburton, has failed to
provide EPA the information necessary to move forward with this
important study. As a result, and as part of the agency's effort to move
forward as quickly as possible, EPA issued a subpoena to the company
requiring submission of the requested information that has yet to be
provided.

EPA's congressionally mandated hydraulic fracturing study will look at
the potential adverse impact of the practice on drinking water and
public health. The agency is under a tight deadline to provide initial
results by the end of 2012 and the thoroughness of the study depends on
timely access to detailed information about the methods used for
fracturing. EPA announced in March that it would conduct this study and
solicit input from the public through a series of public meetings in
major oil and gas production regions. The agency has completed the
public meetings and thousands of Americans from across the country
shared their views on the study and expressed full support for this
effort.

On September 9,  EPA reached out to nine leading national and regional
hydraulic fracturing service providers - BJ Services, Complete
Production Services, Halliburton, Key Energy Services, Patterson-UTI,
RPC, Inc., Schlumberger, Superior Well Services, and Weatherford -
seeking information on the chemical composition of fluids used in the
hydraulic fracturing process, data on the impacts of the chemicals on
human health and the environment, standard operating procedures at their
hydraulic fracturing sites and the locations of sites where fracturing
has been conducted.

Except for Halliburton, the companies have either fully complied with
the September 9 request or made unconditional commitments to provide all
the information on an expeditious schedule.

More information on the subpoena and mandatory request for information
on Halliburton's hydraulic fracturing operations:
http://www.epa.gov/hydraulicfracturing

3) Analysis of the Use of Drinking Water State Revolving Fund
Set-Asides: Promoting System Sustainability
EPA is releasing the Analysis of the Use of Drinking Water State
Revolving Fund Set-Asides: Promoting System Sustainability. This
document highlights activities financed by Drinking Water State
Revolving Fund (DWSRF) capitalization grant set-asides to promote
capacity development efforts. A national "one-year snapshot" for federal
fiscal year (FFY) 2008 is provided, describing the four different
set-asides and highlighting activities that states are pursuing to build
system capacity. The body of this document includes specific examples of
set-aside uses that states may find relevant to their own capacity
development programs.

Copies of this document will be available in hard copy by contacting the
Water Resource Center at 202-566-1729 and identifying document number
EPA 816-R-10-016. You may also contact the National Service Center for
Environmental Publication 1-800-490-9198 to obtain hard copies.
Electronic versions may be found on the EPA website at
http://water.epa.gov/type/drink/pws/smallsystems/state_guidance.cfm#stat
e
[or http://tinyurl.com/394oslk ]
[deletions]

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