Tag: cleanwateract

American Seafoods Fined for Clean Water Act Violations
Fishermen's News Online, News

American Seafoods Fined for Clean Water Act Violations

American Seafoods Co. and owners of its fish-processing vessels have been fined nearly $1 million by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for multiple violations of the Clean Water Act. On Sept. 28, the companies were cited by the EPA for hundreds of violations, including discharging waste in the protected Heceta/Stonewall Banks complex along the Oregon coast, failure to monitor its discharges and missing or inaccurate information in required annual reports. Ed Kowalski, director of EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division in Seattle, said that in amassing hundreds of violations from illegal discharges to sloppy and even non-existent record-keeping that American Seafoods had demonstrated a clear disregard for the fragile and valuable resources that sustain it...
EPA Revises Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’
Fishermen's News Online, News

EPA Revises Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’

Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army have announced establishment of a final rule on the definition of “waters of the United States (WOTUS).” The final rule restores essential water protections that were in place prior to 2015 under the Clean Water Act for traditional navigable waters, territorial seas and interstate waters, as well as upstream water resources that significantly impact those waters. The EPA said this action would strengthen fundamental protections for waters that are sources of drinking water, and also support agriculture, local economies and downstream communities. The EPA also stated that this final rule restores fundamental protections so that the national will be closer to achieving Congress’ goal in the Clea...