EPA rollback of water quality standards leaves Spokane River PCB standards in limbo
The Issue
Federal and state authorities that regulate water quality are getting crosswise with each other. Nationally, its headline making stuff. For the Spokane River, it means the path forward for reducing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) just got murkier.
PCBs are a probable human carcinogen that can also cause non-cancer effects such as immune deficiencies, liver disease, reproductive disorders, and behavioral problems. In the Spokane River, PCB related human health concerns focus on the food chain, beginning with fish consumption.
What Happened
The odyssey starts in 2016 when the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) updated a portion of the state’s water quality standards for nearly 200 pollutants such as mercury, lead and PCBs that are dangerous to human health. The Clean Water Act requires EPA approval of these updates.
EPA used its Clean Water Act authority to significantly tighten Washington’s proposed standards for PCBs. For the five public and private entities discharging wastewater into the Spokane River (Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District, Kaiser Aluminum, Inland Empire Paper Company, Spokane County Regional Water Reclamation Facility, and the City of Spokane), concerns center on not being able to meet the standard with available technology. Ironically, EPA has also not approved a water sampling technology that would enable the dischargers to detect whether the stricter standard is being met.
Ecology set about the process of working with EPA, the dischargers and other stakeholders to identify a solution. Much of this work occurred through the Spokane River Regional Toxics Task Force.
Efforts culminated with each of the five dischargers applying for a PCB water quality variance for the Spokane River in the fall of 2019. In simplistic terms, the variances support dischargers employing technology that meets the highest attainable condition for PCB removal without meeting the numerical standard. They would also support related activities to minimize and reduce PCBs coming into the Spokane River system.
Issuing these variances requires Ecology to adopt a “rule” to provide the needed legal underpinning for discharge permits to conform with federal and state environmental laws. The variance rule that is currently in preliminary draft form would put dischargers on a 20-year pathway to comply with the stricter standard. In the case of Kaiser Aluminum, it’s a 10-year pathway. Ecology would review progress and update discharge permits every five years.
Adopting a variance rule to meet a water quality standard would be a first for Ecology. While supported by Task Force members, the Spokane Riverkeeper opposes use of variances. They believe water quality standards will be weakened and the pathway to achieving the standard lacks certainty.
In May, EPA rolled back the PCB standard to what Washington State initially proposed in 2016. The negative reaction from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, tribes and environmental groups has been swift, including court challenges to EPA’s new stance. Said the Attorney General’s Office, “Revising the standards now … would create confusion and disrupt the work Washington has already completed to meet the standards.”
Next Steps
EPA’s course change has forced Ecology to put a hold on the variance rulemaking process until the litigation challenging EPA’s rollback is resolved. The exception being that Ecology has requested informal comments from the public on the recently completed preliminary draft Spokane River PCB variance rule.
Ecology is committed to issuing new, five-year discharge permits in 2021. If the litigation is unresolved by then, the less stringent standard will be used.