Saving Seafood

EPA to review chemical in car tires known to kill salmon

December 12, 2023 — The ancestral land of the Puyallup tribe, located outside of Tacoma, Washington, is one of America’s most urban reservations.

Their land is crisscrossed by heavy, interstate traffic that has a direct correlation to the dwindling of their most precious resource: salmon.

“All of the pollutants that are discharged along the freeway can end up in this water body, which then flows into Commencement Bay, and this is why it’s a big issue for the tribe, as well as fisheries and fisheries restoration,” said Russ Ladley, the director of fisheries for the tribe.

His team raises and monitors fish populations across the reservation — a resource which its importance is hard to put into words.

For decades, tribal Vice Chair Sylvia Miller says the Puyallup people have watched wild populations of coho and other salmon decrease to a mere percentage of what they have been historically.

“We used to be able to provide for our whole families, for all of our families, be it smoking, canning, and, and providing daily fish to our families, and that’s not so anymore,” said Miller.

Read the full article at KOAA

EPA sides with tribes on petition to regulate toxic tire chemical that kills salmon

November 10, 2023 — In August, three Native tribes — two in Washington, and one in California — petitioned the EPA to regulate the use of 6PPD in tire manufacturing.

6PPD has been in use for decades as a bonding agent to prevent cracking and general wear and tear in tires. When the surface of the tire reacts with ozone or oxygen, it turns into a new compound called 6PPD-Quinone.

“6PPD-Q, which we’ve now discovered, is the second most toxic chemical ever evaluated to aquatic life,” said Elizabeth Forsyth, senior attorney with Earthjustice’s Biodiversity Defense Program, who worked on the petition.

The primary result of exposure is called urban runoff mortality syndrome, which kills up to 100% of coho salmon returning to streams in an urban watershed.

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, Puyallup Tribe, and Yurok Tribe in California signed onto the petition asking the EPA to regulate the use of 6PPD in tire manufacturing. Proponents hope regulation will push tire manufacturers to develop alternatives to 6PPD. A letter of resolution for support was also signed by a coalition of 57 Northwest tribes.

Read the full article at KUOW

Commercial fishing groups sue 13 US tire makers over rubber preservative that’s deadly to salmon

November 9, 2023 — The 13 largest U.S. tire manufacturers are facing a lawsuit from a pair of California commercial fishing organizations that could force the companies to stop using a chemical added to almost every tire because it kills migrating salmon.

Also found in footwear, synthetic turf and playground equipment, the rubber preservative 6PPD has been used in tires for 60 years. As tires wear, tiny particles of rubber are left behind on roads and parking lots, breaking down into a byproduct, 6PPD-quinone, that is deadly to salmon, steelhead trout and other aquatic wildlife when rains wash it into rivers.

“This is the biggest environmental disaster that the world doesn’t quite know about yet,” said Elizabeth Forsyth, an attorney with the environmental law firm Earthjustice, which is representing the fishing groups. “It’s causing devastating impacts to threatened and endangered species.”

The Institute for Fisheries Resources and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Wednesday against Goodyear, Bridgestone, Continental and others.

In an emailed statement, Bridgestone spokesman Steve Kinkade said the company would not comment on the lawsuit, but that it “remains committed to safety, quality and the environment and continues to invest in researching alternative and sustainably sourced materials in our products.”

Read the full article at ABC News

EPA head says he’s ‘proud’ of decision to block Alaska mine and protect salmon-rich Bristol Bay

August 30, 2023 — The nation’s top environmental official said he fully supports his agency’s decision to block a proposed gold and copper mine in Alaska’s salmon-rich Bristol Bay, even as the state of Alaska has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn that action.

“Let me be clear, we are very proud of our decision to really evaluate the Pebble Mine project and do what is necessary to protect Bristol Bay,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday as he began a four-day tour of Alaska, starting in a Bristol Bay village.

The EPA in January vetoed the proposed Pebble Mine, citing concerns with possible impacts on the aquatic ecosystem in southwest Alaska that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. The region also has significant mineral resources.

Read the full article at the Associated Press

US Supreme Court deals blow to EPA’s reach under Clean Water Act

May 30, 2023 — The United States Supreme Court rolled back the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate wetlands under the Clean Water Act, ruling that the law only applies to wetlands that are indistinguishable from “waters of the United States.”

Environmental groups have condemned the court’s decision as a limitation on the ability of communities to protect waterways and the fish that live in them, but others argue that it’s a necessary curtailment of federal overreach and state bodies can better balance environmental protections and local needs.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

OREGON: Oregon seafood processors claim that the state’s stringent wastewater regulations will ultimately compel them to shut down

May 26, 2023 — New regulations in the U.S. state of Oregon are concerning local seafood processors, who are worried they will be forced to treat wastewater to be cleaner than drinking water.

The West Coast Seafood Processors Association (WCSPA) said in an issue brief the regulations will force many of its members to close unless the state legislature intervenes.

“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) exempts seafood processors from these types of extreme limits,” WCSPA said “No other state in the United States – nor any other country in the world – has applied these requirements to seafood processors. Without immediate action by government leaders, Oregon’s seafood and commercial fishing communities are in jeopardy.”

In response, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) said it is working with individual seafood processors on incremental improvements and is not trying to shut down the facilities.

“It is not DEQ’s intention … to put any seafood processor out of business,” DEQ Water Quality Administrator Jennifer Wigel said in testimony last month.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Army Corps to revisit parts of Pebble’s permit application, but opponents say mine can’t move forward

May 7, 2023 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will reconsider certain aspects of the Pebble company’s permit application to build a large gold and copper mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay. The 81-page report comes just three months after the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed the mine in a separate process.

“It’s a bit surprising and a bit confusing,” said Dennis McLerran, who worked as the regional EPA administrator during the Obama administration.

The EPA in January determined that the mine would have “unacceptable adverse effects on salmon fishery areas.” Using its powers under the Clean Water Act, it essentially vetoed the mine plan, and any future plan that would have a similar impact on the same waterways. Many opponents of the project hailed that as the final blow.

McLerran said the EPA decision nullifies any permit the Army Corps could issue.

Read the full article at the b Bristol Bay Times

ALASKA: Army Corps to revisit parts of Pebble’s permit application, but opponents say mine can’t move forward

May 1, 2023 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will reconsider certain aspects of the Pebble company’s permit application to build a large gold and copper mine at the headwaters of Bristol Bay. The 81-page report comes just three months after the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed the mine in a separate process.

“It’s a bit surprising and a bit confusing,” said Dennis McLerran, who worked as the regional EPA administrator during the Obama administration.

The EPA in January determined that the mine would have “unacceptable adverse effects on salmon fishery areas.” Using its powers under the Clean Water Act, it essentially vetoed the mine plan, and any future plan that would have a similar impact on the same waterways. Many opponents of the project hailed that as the final blow.

McLerran said the EPA decision nullifies any permit the Army Corps could issue.

Read the full story at KYUK

Republicans vow EPA scrutiny in Pebble veto’s wake

February 1, 2023 — A top Senate Republican is promising to ramp up oversight of EPA’s Clean Water Act veto power after the agency used its authority to block a contentious gold and copper mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, home to a world premier salmon fishery.

Senate Environment and Public Works ranking member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) blasted EPA’s final determination that barred waters within the Bristol Bay watershed from receiving dredge and fill. The federal action essentially killed the proposed mine.

Capito accused the agency of circumventing the agency review process and said upcoming talks on permitting reform legislation may address the issue. Capito and 38 other Republicans last year floated a bill called the “Simplify Timelines and Assure Regulatory Transparency (START) Act.”

“The environmental permitting process should have clear rules of the road, both for applicants and for the agencies to follow,” said the senator. “The EPA summarily denying an application before it is submitted sets a dangerous precedent for future economic development and infrastructure projects across the country.”

EPA stated considering vetoing Pebble during the Obama administration, before the mine had entered the permitting process. The Army Corps of Engineers denied a Clean Water Act Section 404 dredge-and-fill permit, but the company behind it appealed. EPA this week used its veto power over such permits to make sure the mine is never built.

Capito, a longtime critic of EPA’s history with vetoes, said her legislation would address retroactive decisions that have “negatively impacted West Virginia in the past” and said she will be “examining the agency’s use of prospective vetoes as well.”

Read the full article at E&E News

EPA decision on Bristol Bay draws criticism and praise

February 1, 2023 — The Environmental Protection Agency’s order limiting the use of some waters in Alaska’s Bristol Bay drew ire from Gov. Mike Dunleavy and praise from others.

The order prohibits using some waters in Alaska’s Bristol Bay as “disposal of dredged and fill material associated with developing the Pebble deposit in certain waters.”

The EPA is setting a dangerous precedent, Dunleavy said Tuesday.

“Alarmingly, it lays the foundation to stop any development project, mining or non-mining, in any area of Alaska with wetlands and fish-bearing streams,” Dunleavy said.

Read the full article at The Center Square