Ohio River Protections No Longer Mandatory
The Ohio River, which runs through or borders six different states, will no longer have mandatory pollution standards overseen by a multi-state agency.
“The multi-state agency that for the last 60 years has set water quality standards protecting the Ohio River … approved industry-backed changes to make those rules voluntary,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The Ohio River Sanitation Commission, known by the acronym ORSANCO, voted 19-2 with one abstention to make the changes.”
Since 1948, ORSANCO has been tasked with improving and protecting the Ohio River’s water quality. It has established standards that stem the discharge of heavy metals and chemicals from industrial operations.
Now, ORSANCO argues that rather than give potential polluters more leeway, this change only adds flexibility to how states enforce protection for the Ohio River. They say that states do still have to protect the water quality and meet the commission’s standards.
“ORSANCO and the member states largely adopt [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] criteria,” ORSANCO Executive Director Richard Harrison told the Post-Gazette. “This change gives them the flexibilities they need in terms of implementing those programs.”
Environmental advocacy groups, however, disagree. Many of them feel that since the mandate to enforce ORSANCO standards for water discharges into the river is gone, it will not be enforced.
“The decision by ORSANCO is mind-boggling, especially when considering more than 4,000 people spoke out against the proposal during a public comment period, and only nine people supported it,” Matthew Stepp, the vice president and chief of staff for PennFuture, said in a release obtained by the Cincinnati Enquirer. “With the federal government already set on dismantling environmental laws and protections, now is not the time to weaken regional water quality standards along the Ohio River.”
ORSANCO also approved an amendment to the change that will create a review of the programs involving the pollution control standards. The commission should be getting a report with results from that review and if pollution is found to be rising significantly, it’s possible that ORSANCO will increase its oversight again.
To read more about how source water quality is protected, visit Water Online’s Source Water Contamination Solutions Center.