Implementing these water management principles can be expensive and beyond the ability of some states to fund. However, the benefits of managing the resource in this manner are significant. Therefore, the Western Governors encourage federal agencies to look for opportunities to use existing authority to provide funding, flexibility in funding, and/or shared or loaned personnel to states to help them address specific watershed problems.
Source: WGA Policy Resolution 01 - 12: Watershed Partnerships 01-WGA12 on Aug 14, 2001
Apply "Good Samaritan" rules to abandoned mine cleanup.
Guinn co-sponsored the Western Governors' Association resolution:
Good Samaritan- The Western Governors believe that there is a need to eliminate disincentives, and establish incentives, to voluntary, cooperative efforts aimed at improving and protecting water quality impacted by abandoned or inactive mines.
- The Western Governors believe the Clean Water Act should be amended to protect a remediating agency from becoming legally responsible for any continuing discharges from the abandoned mine site after completion of a cleanup project, provided that the remediating agency -- or "Good Samaritan"-- does not otherwise have liability for that abandoned or inactive mine site and attempts to improve the conditions at the site.
- The Western Governors believe that Congress, as a priority, should amend the Clean Water Act in a manner that accomplishes the goals embodied in the WGA legislative package on Good Samaritan cleanups. S.1787 from the 106 th Congress is a good starting point for future congressional deliberations.
Cleanup and Funding - The Governors encourage federal land management agencies to coordinate their abandoned mine efforts with state efforts to avoid redundancy and unnecessary duplication.
- Reliable sources of funds that do not divert from other important Clean Water programs should be identified and made available for the cleanup of hardrock abandoned mines in the West.
- The Western Governors continue to urge the Administration and Congress to promptly distribute to states abandoned coal mine land funds in the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Trust Fund , including accumulated interest, collected under Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (see WGA Policy Resolution 00-012).
Source: WGA Policy Resolution 01 - 15: Cleaning Up Abandoned Mines 01-WGA15 on Aug 14, 2001
State primacy over water quantity & quality issues.
Guinn signed the Western Governors' Association resolution:
- The states should retain primary jurisdiction over water quantity issues -- specifically water resource allocation and the determination of beneficial uses.
- Control of pollutants from stormwater needs to be addressed with application of Best Management Practices. The Clean Water Act (CWA) should allow flexibility in both water quality criteria and beneficial use designations for receiving waters. Stormwater discharges to dry streams in arid regions pose substantially lower environmental risks than do the same discharges to perennial surface waters.
- CWA reauthorization must take into account the environment in the arid West. Specifically, the CWA should recognize and Congress should provide adequate resources for the development of water quality criteria for non-perennial and effluent dependent streams.
- The CWA reauthorization should include two new statements of purpose:
(A) To recognize the need to establish water quality criteria for the wide variety of ecosystems that exist in the U.S.
(B) To allow states to encourage the reuse of treated wastewater, as a component of water quality control. - The CWA should allow states flexibility in the designation of beneficial uses and establishment of criteria for certain waters, such as non-perennial and effluent dependent streams and man made water transportation canals.
- Non-point source funding should enable states to balance program elements and focus, as needed, on technology development and transfer, monitoring, assessment, etc. Federal agency activities should also be required to comply with state non-point source management plans.
- The Governors endorse the authorization of a regional water quality research project to design and develop water quality standards appropriate to unique conditions in the western states.
Source: WGA Policy Resolution 01 - 16: Clean Water Act 01-WGA16 on Aug 14, 2001
Maintain joint EPA-state authority over nuclear waste.
Guinn adopted a letter to Senate leaders from 4 Governors:
On behalf of the nation’s Governors we write in opposition to provisions contained in the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1999. Specifically, we object to Section 103, which removes authority from the EPA to set radiation protection standards at the proposed high-level nuclear waste storage facility. Section 103 is in direct conflict with NGA’s Policy NR-8,Environmental Compliance at Federal Facilities, which was unanimously reaffirmed at the Governors’ annual meeting in August. NGA policy NR-8 is based on the premise that
The problems of environmental cleanup and compliance at federal facilities are deep-rooted. Contamination and environmental degradation are the result of years of mismanagement and neglect. They reflect noncompliance with federal policies, unclear or inadequate laws and regulations, institutional attitudes that devalue environmental concerns, and the reluctance of federal agencies to work with federal and state regulators.
NGA policy NR-8 recommends that Congress should amend applicable federal laws to ensure that all wastes, including radioactive wastes and munitions, are within the purview of state and EPA authorities. Efforts should be made to coordinate all federal requirements. In addition, Congress should require that all quasi-federal sovereign businesses and corporations meet the same environmental compliance standards as other federal agencies.
Section 103 removes EPA authority to set radiation standards at the proposed high-level nuclear waste storage facility and is contrary to the NGA policy recommendation that both EPA and states should have authority over radioactive wastes. It is a disturbing precedent that could lead to further dilution of state and EPA authority to set environmental standards at federal facilities and coordinate eventual clean-up activities in all 50 states.
Source: National Governor's Association letter to Congress 99-NGA22 on Oct 21, 1999
Page last updated: Nov 23, 2011
