Though smaller than expected, this year’s Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone is over 6,700 square miles. The Dead Zone is an area of little to no oxygen in the Gulf in which no life can survive. It is a result of runoff from the Mississippi River, contributed to by 31 states. Tennessee ranks 9th as a contributor to the Dead Zone. Check out the full press release on the 2011 Dead Zone.

Tennessee is one of only eight states in which none of our water treatment systems violate the federal arsenic standards for drinking water.  Arsenic enters our drinking water from natural deposits in the earth or through runoff from agricultural and industrial practices. Exposure to arsenic has significant impacts to your health. According to EPA, long-term exposure to arsenic has been linked to cancer of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidneys, nasal passages, liver and prostate. However, EPA notes, these effects are unlikely to occur from U.S. public water supplies that are in compliance with the arsenic standard.

H.R. 2018 passed out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week with the support of Rep. Duncan and Rep. Fleischmann.  Congressman Cohen stood up for water quality in Tennessee by opposing the bill. H.R. 2018 would seriously restrict EPA’s ability protect water as it flows across state lines, instead relying on each state to do so and losing consistency. States upstream of us with less protective standards could threaten our quality of life. Contact your representative and tell them to oppose H.R. 2018.

H.R. 2018, the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011 was introduced last month by Rep. Mica from Florida. This bill is just simply dangerous. It is an attempt to prevent EPA from using its oversight authority to protect water quality. The bill is written to:

(1) Restrict EPA’s ability to issue a revised or new water quality standard for a pollutant whenever a state has adopted – and EPA has already approved – a standard, unless the state concurs.
(2) Prohibit EPA from superseding a water quality certification (that a discharge will comply with applicable water quality requirements) granted by a state under Clean Water Act (”CWA”) section 401.
(3) Prohibit EPA from withdrawing approval of a state water quality permitting program under CWA section 402 (regarding the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or “NPDES”)), or from limiting federal financial assistance for the state program, on the basis that EPA disagrees with the state regarding a (i) water quality standard that a state has adopted and EPA has approved, or (ii) the implementation of any federal guidance that directs a re-interpretation of the state’s approved water quality standards.
(4) Prohibit EPA from objecting to a state’s issuance of an NPDES permit on the basis of (i) EPA’s differing interpretation of an approved state water quality standard, or (ii) the implementation of any federal guidance that directs a re-interpretation of the state’s approved water quality standards.

Unfortunately Rep. Duncan of Tennessee’s 2nd District is a co-sponsor of the bill. He and Rep. Cohen (of TN’s 9th District) are members of the committee to which this bill was assigned. Contact them and let them know how threatening this legislation is to our water quality.

Communities all along the Mississippi River have been affected by historic flooding, but is not only those communities who will suffer. Our aquatic communities will also be threatened. As flood waters have overflowed then receded they have carried with them record amounts of agricultural chemicals and fertilizers.  Due to this inundation it is predicted we will witness the largest Dead Zone to date in the Gulf of Mexico this season.