WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. EPA has issued a decision saying that Ohio’s part of the Western Lake Erie Basin is not impaired, which means state officials will be able to lead in continued efforts to control harmful algal blooms that have plagued Lake Erie in recent years.

 

Most notably, harmful algal blooms appeared near Toledo in 2014, affecting the drinking water of 400,000 people.

In a May 19 letter to Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler, U.S. EPA Region 5 Water Division Director Christopher Korleski wrote that EPA had completed its review of OEPA’s list of impaired waters.

Impaired waters are waters that are environmentally deficient in one or more ways under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA); the designation of impaired means that a state government, farmers and maybe others will have to do more to help clean up the waters in question.

EPA’s list did not include open waters of the Western Lake Erie Basin (WLEB).

“In reaching its decision, EPA has deferred to the State’s judgment not to assess the open waters of the Western Basin of Lake Erie for the 2016 list,” the letter said. “EPA recognizes that Ohio EPA intends to evaluate options for developing objective criteria (e.g., microcystin or other metrics) for use in making decisions regarding the Western Basin for the 2018 list.”

Environmental and other groups, some  of which had just sued the EPA to get it tomake a decision about the status of the WLEB, greeted the decision with alarm and outrage. In November, Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality declared its portion of the WLEB as impaired, but that’s only 2 percent of the WLEB.

The Michigan Farm Bureau opposed the designation, saying the state has been working to address algal blooms and nutrient loading successfully through the 2015 Collaborative Agreement between Michigan, Ohio and Ontario, Canada.

At the time, though, the DEQ said it had no choice but to make the designation based on data it had. Now, though, with the new administration it appears states will be given more latitude; and Ohio officials did not want the regulatory burden that would come with an impaired waters designation.

“The suffering of over 400,000 not able to drink Toledo water and major losses in fishing in 2015 have failed to jolt USEPA and Ohio into action,” said Sandy Bihn, executive director of Lake Erie Foundation, one of the plaintiffs in the April 25 lawsuit. “USEPA and Ohio are refusing to declare the open waters of Lake Erie impaired under the Clean Water Act, which would require measurements to tell us if the algae sources are increasing or decreasing.”

Under the CWA, every two years states submit a list of impaired waters to the EPA, which the agency must by law accept or deny within 30 days.

Environmentalists consider the process to be instrumental in helping local communities, states and the nation identify unhealthy waters so actions can be taken to improve the health of rivers, lakes and streams.

Ohio submitted its list in October. After the EPA failed to rule on it within that timeline, a coalition of businesses, conservation advocates and sportsmen sued, asking a federal judge to order the agency to carry out its duty under the CWA.

The other plaintiffs in the lawsuit were National Wildlife Federation, Alliance for the Great Lakes, Lake Erie Charter Boat Assoc., Michigan United Conservation Clubs and Ohio Environmental Council.