R 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act a bill to create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy will be voted on TODAY!  Sadly, the bill has only on co-sponsor, Rep. Ed Markey (MA).  Where are Reps. Gordon and Cooper?  They’re usually pretty good on this stuff.

Granted the bill isn’t perfect, but its a first step and we need to do something about carbon emissions.

So, call around folks!  Here’s a link to Tennessee’s congressional delegation.  Give the house members a call and tell them to do right by the planet and future generations!

RvH

Well, we had a rough start to the legislative session, but it is ending much better than anticipated.  A couple of months ago we were facing 14 bills with serious potential to negatively impact our waters. Now, there are three.  These three aren’t good bills, but did start off much worse:

SB0632/HB1615 redefines wet weather conveyances, codifies some current permit requirements, requires the development of a hydrologic determination guidances and allows outside consultants to make stream determinations.  The senate bill has passed and the house bill is scheduled in the Finance Committee this week.  This bill was initially much more destructive.  Some aspects are acceptable, but others are down right dangerous.

SB1331/HB1204 mandates the state adopt a DRAFT selenium standard developed by EPA in 2004.  This is a standard not adopted by EPA itself with serious need for further scientific inquiry.  It is not protective of our water quality and sets a precedence for the legislature to set water quality criteria.  The senate bill passed and the house bill will be on the floor soon.

SB0198 requires General Assembly approval of all department rules and eliminates public necessity and emergency rule making.  This bill really impedes on Executive Branch authority and separation of powers.  It is also dangerous to eliminate our state’s authority and necessity to make emergency rules when new situations arise.  This bill just started moving and is scheduled for committee next week.

The 2009 legislative session should be coming to a close soon.  Remember, though, this is year one of a 2 year session - these dangerous bills are not gone yet!

SB632/HB1615 is an attempt to narrow the types of waterbodies protected under our laws.  Since the changes are based upon removing the use classification of a stream, EPA approval is always required. SB633/HB1617 creates a new definition of “limited resource waters” in another attempt to restrict the types of waterbodies protected under our laws.  These bills would especially lift protection from our smaller streams during times of drought, when we need water protection the most.  Both bills also take these re-defined waters out of our public trust, therefore opening them up for pollution.

 The US EPA reviewed these bills and said “Should this legislation pass, it may result in federal action related to TDEC’s federally delegated water programs.”  Passing this legislation could result in direct federal oversight of our state programs, or worse the removal of our delegated authority to protect our waters.  The US EPA also notes these bills result in definitions which would not be consistent with the Clean Water Act. 

On top of all of this, the state could lose up to $2 million in federal funding as a result of this legislation while costing us an additional $1 million in our own expenditures. 

These bills are not only destructive to our water resources, but clearly violate federal standards to protect our waters!

We are fighting one of our biggest legislative battles ever in an effort to protect Tennessee’s waters, and we need your help!  Two bills are up for discussion and a potential vote in the Senate Environmental Committe on Tuesday and the sponsor needs to hear from you about why these bills are so bad. 

SB632 and SB633 in short will lift protection from thousands of miles of smaller streams throughout the state.  These bills are an attempt to weaken our state’s water protection laws and are a huge threat to our water quality and quantity. 

Please call Senator Southerland and other members of the Senate Environmental Committee to oppose these dangerous bills.  Go to http://www.capitol.tn.gov/senate/committees/env-tourism.html for each member’s contact information and let them know you oppose SB632 and SB633 because they strip protection away from our waters – could destroy approximately 30,000 miles of streams in Tennessee - and are a critical threat to our neighborhood streams and smaller waterbodies. 

Call these members no later than Monday, and let’s defeat these bills!

Go to http://www.tcwn.org/news/2009bills.php to learn more about this legislation.

Did you know that you can watch the state legislature and all committee meetings live online?  Check out this link: http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/livevideo/ for the live feed.  You can also visit the House or Senate Committee pages for archived videos and agendas for upcoming sessions.

Here are links to the House and Senate Environment Committees:

House Conservation and Environment Committee: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/house/committees/conserv-env.html

Senate Environment, Conservation and Tourism Committee: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/senate/committees/env-tourism.html

We will be watching these committees live and posting comments on our Twitter site.