Our River Lawyer Goes to D.C.

The Center’s Rick Eichstaedt takes the case for clean water inside the beltway and finds that the Spokane River is getting national attention.

By Rick Eichstaedt

Last week, I had the pleasure of joining nearly 70 other clean water advocates from around the nation for the Clean Water Networks semi-annual Clean Water Week in Washington, D.C.

The Clean Water Network is a coalition of more than 1,200 public interest organizations, including the Center, across the country, representing more than 5 million people, working together to strengthen and implement federal clean water and wetlands policy. It is the largest national coalition working to defend and strengthen the federal Clean Water Act.

The purpose of the conference was to learn about efforts across the nation to tackle difficult water quality issues, discuss upcoming legislation impacting the Clean Water Act, discuss an agenda of actions that would benefit water quality restoration efforts nationwide, and celebrating the achievements of water advocates and our political leaders.

While I’ve had the opportunity to travel to D.C. earlier in my legal career, I was struck with the change in energy that was palpable in our Capital.  While watching the State of the Union address at a restaurant just blocks from the Capital, people cheered and applauded.  Congressional staffers from both sides of the isle recognized the opportunities and challenges facing us by the declining economy and the fund provided to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure through the stimulus bill.  Government officials recognized the need to rededicate our efforts to protecting our environment, strengthening our environmental laws, and greening our economy.

Surprisingly, the efforts of the Center to address clean up of the Spokane River have not gone unnoticed in D.C.  Michael Shapiro, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Water, shared that the work to address phosphorus discharges in the Spokane River is getting the attention of others nationwide and that the work here will set a national precedent.  Staff from our Washington congressional delegation committed to tracking and providing support of our Spokane River efforts.

On a legislative front, staff from both the Washington State congressional delegation and the Environmental Protection Agency indicated their support for efforts to restore Clean Water Act jurisdiction, which has been significantly eroded by poor and confusing decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Clean Water Restoration Act would reaffirm Congress’s intent to regulate wetlands and small streams that often provide important wildlife and bird habitat and, if not, protected could impacted both surface and groundwater quality.  This is particularly of concern in Spokane County, where many of our wetlands and streams drain straight to the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer.  Under the recent Supreme Court decisions, regulation of activities these waterbodies may fall outside the authority of the Clean Water Act.  The Restoration Act would fix this and allow federal and state agencies to address adverse impacts associated with actions impacting these waterbodies.

All and in all, the trip was inspirational.  Seeing the efforts of our groups to tackle issues similar to those we face in the Spokane River, and seeing the positive energy toward restoring our environment reminded me how important the work we are doing in not only to all of us, who live in the Spokane Region, but in the context of national efforts to protect our nation’s waters.