[CPEO-MEF] FW: polluted runoff campaign

[olah@speagle.com]

CSWAB Update: Polluted runoff campaign
In addition to its local work, CSWAB is working in partnership with
environmental and conservation organizations to protect Wisconsin's surface
and groundwater resources.  More information about this important campaign
below...
Laura
--
Laura Olah, Executive Director
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
E12629 Weigand's Bay South
Merrimac, WI  53561
phone (608)643-3124
fax (608)643-0005 alt fax (608)643-2682
Email: olah@speagle.com
Primary website: http://www.cswab.com
Alt website: http://www.speagle.com/cswab


Original Message-----
[From canoe@wisconsinrivers.org [mailto:canoe@wisconsinrivers.org]
[Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 12:48 PM
[To: olah@speagle.com
 Urgent News Release on Polluted Runoff



January 24, 2001
For Immediate Release

COALITION OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CONSERVATION GROUPS ENDORSE BUFFER
STANDARDS TO CONTROL POLLUTED RUNOFF

Madison =AD Thirty-three environmental and conservation organizations
representing well over 100,000 Wisconsin citizens today urged the Natural
Resources Board and the state Agriculture Board to endorse new standards to
prevent polluted runoff.  The coalition asked the boards to approve the
portion of the new state rules to control polluted runoff that create
riparian protection zones, or vegetative buffers, along waterways running
through agricultural fields.  These new buffers will be mandatory when
state and federal cost share dollars are available. If approved by the
state legislature, Wisconsin will be the first state in the nation to
require vegetation buffers for waterways that traverse
croplands.

The new standards are part of the new draft rules to control nonpoint
pollution, or polluted runoff.  These rules, the most comprehensive set of
environmental rules ever considered in this state involve eight sets of
codes and are more than 450 pages long.  Today=92s action by the
respective boards would send the rules out to a series of public
hearings in March of this year.  They would then be sent on to the
legislature for approval.

River Alliance executive director Todd Ambs has been one of the leading
proponents of the buffer standards as a member of the state=92s Outreach
Advisory Committee and as part of the workgroup that negotiated the
language for the standards last summer.  Speaking before the Natural
Resources Board this morning, Ambs said, =93The polluted runoff regulations
are an historic opportunity for our state to once again lead the way in
forward thinking environmental laws.  We are presented with a real chance
to set a precedent in water resource and land management. The rules
regarding buffers will be a huge step in ensuring the health of out state=92=
s
waterways and its people for the long term.=94

Since the Clean Water Act was passed in the 1970s, water quality
regulations have focused on reducing point-source discharges.  Today
polluted runoff is the number one threat to water quality in the state of
Wisconsin.  Polluted runoff comes from a variety of places, including
lawns, construction sites, parking lots, barnyards and agricultural fields.
 This pollution affects:

=B7	40% of our streams;
=B7	90% of our inland lakes;
=B7	many coastal waters; and,
=B7	much of our groundwater.

The costs of polluted runoff in terms of tourism, water treatment costs,
and the degradation of our fisheries have reached billions of dollars, not
to mention the costs that future generations will bear.

It is important to note that although these buffer regulations are
historic for the nation, they are also a compromise worked out by groups
with very divergent interests.  Nevertheless, several producer groups,
including the Farm Bureau, have come to a consensus with the Wisconsin DNR,
DATCP and the River Alliance.  They are a big step in the right
direction though, which is why 33 environmental and conservation
organizations representing well over 100,000 Wisconsin citizens signed the
letter (see attached).

=93We heartily endorse these buffers and urge the boards and the
legislature to do the same.  That doesn=92t mean we think this is a
panacea for all of the ills caused by polluted runoff.  We remain
concerned about the cost share dollars that must be made available to make
these buffers a reality.  We are also concerned about other provisions in
the rules.  The transportation standards are still too lax in our view and
some of the standards that apply to water quality management areas we would
like to see extended to all urban and rural practices.  We also recognize
that much work needs to be done to implement all of these rules
efficiently, with effective enforcement and meaningful monitoring of the
impacts of the new rules so that we know how well this great effort is
working to actually control polluted runoff,=94 Ambs concluded.

For today though, the coalition focused on the opportunity the rules
present.  It is an opportunity to add to the great Wisconsin
conservation legacy with this ambitious effort.  The conservation and
environmental community is prepared to help all of us to take advantage of
that opportunity.

Formed in 1993, the River Alliance of Wisconsin is a statewide
non-profit, non-partisan citizen advocacy organization that works to
protect and restore Wisconsin=92s rivers. The organization=92s membership
includes more than 1,500 individuals, groups and businesses -- one of the
largest memberships of statewide river groups in the country.

#	#	#





January 23, 2001


To the Natural Resources Board:

Polluted runoff is now the greatest threat to the health of Wisconsin=92s
waters, affecting streams, inland lakes, coastal waters, and groundwater
across the state.  The cost of this pollution in terms of tourism, water
treatment and the degradation of our fisheries have reached billions of
dollars.

The Agricultural Standards Workgroup, comprised of producer groups, the
Farm Bureau, Wisconsin DNR and DATCP, and the River Alliance of Wisconsin,
has worked since the Spring of 2000 to find ways to limit the delivery of
contaminated run-off from agricultural fields to surface waters.

Recently the Workgroup reached a consensus on its recommendations.  The
recommendations focus on the need to create riparian protection zones, also
known as vegetative buffers, along waterways running through agricultural
fields.  It is widely accepted that one of the best ways to control
polluted run-off is to create vegetative buffers around bodies of water.
The following organizations endorse the Agricultural Standards Workgroup=92s
recommendations on establishing rules to promote
riparian protection zones.  We urge the NRB to approve these draft rules
as written and to send them on to a second round of public hearings.

Thank you for your concern for the health of Wisconsin=92s waters.

Sincerely,

River Alliance of Wisconsin
Todd Ambs, Executive Director

1000 Friends of Wisconsin
David Cieslewicz, Executive Director

Baird Creek Parkway
Preservation Foundation
Kim Diaz, Vice President

Black Earth Creek Watershed Association
James Van Deurzen, President

            (more)
Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger
Laura Olah, Executive Director

Citizens to Save Neenah Wetlands
David Peck, President

DuPage River Fly Tyers
Stan Zarnowiecki, Treasurer

ECCOLA
John Schwarzmann



Farmer=92s and Sportsmen=92s
Conservation Club
Roanal G. Holler, President

Fisher Creek Alliance
Rolf Johnson

Fox Lake Inland Lake Protection District
Mary Dannski, Fox Lake Coordinator

Frank Hornberg Chapter, Trout Unlimited
Jim Friedrich, Chapter President

Friends of the Root River/Sustainable Racine
Carol Cariello

Great River Council,
Federation of Fly Fishers
Stan Zarnowiecki, Treasurer

Green Bay Chapter, Trout Unlimited
Peter Harris, President

John Muir Chapter, Sierra Club
Caryl Terrell, Director

John Muir Chapter, Sierra Club
River Touring Section
Donald Lintner, Chair

Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter, Trout Unlimited
Brent Sittlau, President

Kinnickinnic River Land Trust
Rick McMonagle, Executive Director

La Crosse Wastewater Utility
Jeff DeJarlais

Lakeshore Chapter, Trout Unlimited
Doug Leppanen, President

Lake Superior Alliance
Bob Olsgard, Coordinator

Madison Audubon Society
Karen Etter Hale, Executive Secretary


Midwest Environmental Advocates
Melissa Scanlan, Legal Director

Milwaukee Lake & Stream Fly Fishers
Barbara Jakopac, President

Municipal Environmental Group, Wastewater Division
Paul Kent, Counsel

Pheasants Forever
Jeff Gaska, Regional Biologist

Plover River Alliance
Daniel Trainer, Board of Directors

Shaw-Paca Chapter, Trout Unlimited
William Wagner, President

Southern Wisconsin Chapter, Trout Unlimited
Thomas Ehlert, President

Trout Unlimited, Wisconsin Council
John Welter, Chair

Wisconsin Audubon Council
Karen Etter Hale, First Vice President

Wisconsin BASS State Federation
Kevin Fassbind, Conservation Director

Wisconsin Citizen Action
Sam Gieryn, Family Farm Stewardship Campaign Coordinator

Wisconsin=92s Environmental Decade
Keith Reopelle, Program Director

Wisconsin Wetlands Association
Alice Thompson, Chair, Board of Directors

Wolf River Chapter, Trout Unlimited
Herb Buettner, President


River Alliance of Wisconsin
306 E. Wilson St., Ste 2W
Madison, WI  53703
Phone: 608-257-2424
www.wisconsinrivers.org

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