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Chapter II. Environmental Health

The Izaak Walton League affirms the right of all people to be free from ecological and environmental assaults and to be active participants in any governmental decision-making that affects our environment and natural resources held in public trust.

• A) Water Quality
  1. There is no justification for water pollution. The people of the United States are entitled to wholesome surface water and groundwater, usable for all human needs. At a minimum, surface water should be of suitable quality for both recreational contact and for the protection and propagation of fish and wildlife.
  2. The public goal should be maximal removal of pollutants from all waters. The League neither accepts “waste assimilation” as a proper use of America’s water, nor believes water should be impounded to dilute waste loads during low-flow periods.
  3. The primary strategy for controlling pollution should be to control the quantity and quality of effluent discharged by municipalities and industries. In no case should water quality be degraded below present levels; waters of high quality should be protected from contamination.
  4. While the Clean Water Act has made substantial improvements to the nation’s water quality by controlling point sources of pollution, 40 percent of our surface water remains degraded and unfishable. To address the need for effective control of nonpoint source pollution that affects both fish and peoples’ recreational and consumptive use of fish, the League supports legislation that provides and funds voluntary, nonregulatory, incentive-based projects recommended in watershed management plans approved at the appropriate levels of government.
  5. Pollutants washing off the land (nonpoint source pollution) must be controlled. Ultimate responsibility for such control rests with the landowner, but adequate federal funding for planning, implementation, and technical assistance will be needed to aid in nonpoint source pollution control.
  6. Federal funds should be granted to develop area-wide water quality planning and to develop land management practices that reduce nonpoint source pollution.
• B) Wastewater Management
  1. Every industry and municipality bears full responsibility for treating its own wastes. It is the responsibility of industry—not government— to discover and perfect methods of reducing its discharges to the extent required by government.
  2. The League has worked for years to support substantial federal appropriations to assist local governments in the construction of wastewater management facilities. The League also has endorsed cost-sharing initiatives with rural landowners to control nonpoint source pollution as well as investment tax credits for industries investing in treatment facilities. But, as indicated above, the ultimate responsibility for pollution control rests with the polluter. Furthermore, the federal government has no obligation to subsidize community growth through expenditures for pollution control (or other) facilities. Providing necessary wastewater management facilities or practices should not depend upon the availability of federal financial assistance.
  3. There should be no mixing zones or zones of dilution for the discharge of toxic pollutants.
  4. Discharge of heated water into natural bodies of water (thermal pollution) should be reduced to the minimal level that is practical. Cooling water should be recycled through cooling towers, ponds, or other means.
  5. Sewage discharge from commercial, military, and recreational vessels should be eliminated.
  6. The program of federal grants for the construction of municipal sewage treatment systems should be strengthened by:
     • a) Guaranteeing predictable, multiyear funding.
     • b) Allocating funds based on unmet treatment needs.
     • c) Eliminating federal grants that subsidize growth and induce sprawl.
     • d) Stimulating the use of innovative and alternative technologies.
     • e) Encouraging efficiency in treatment-plant design, construction and operation.
  7. The League supports a moratorium on the development of unlined community sewage lagoons until proper studies of the environmental impact of these facilities and ways of preventing leakage have been conducted. These studies should include evaluation of existing lagoons.
  8. Roughly 10 percent of all communities throughout the nation have sewer systems that combine sewage and stormwater discharge. These systems are far more likely to exceed the capacity of the receiving treatment facilities, thus discharging untreated sewage into the receiving waters. The League urges states to:
     • a) Issue early warning notices for all combined sewer overflow (CSO) communities prior to reaching treatment capacity.
     • b) Ban sewer connections once “bypass at first flush” occurs or when treatment capacity cannot meet public health standards for fecal coliform bacteria.
     • c) Provide matching funds to CSO communities to help implement corrective actions and to adopt notice rules to those neighboring affected waterways.
     • d) Ensure that long-term control plans are implemented in a manner that eliminates disproportionate impacts on minorities or low-income residents and environmentally sensitive and recreational areas.
     • e) The League also urges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to promptly establish and implement regional plans to address CSO issues.
     • f) Immediately require all CSO communities to complete their long-term control plans as soon as possible and to issue compliance schedules to stop discharging sewage into the nation’s lakes, streams, and aquifers.
• C) Groundwater
  1. Groundwater is an essential resource that must be protected against depletion and contamination. The League advocates a comprehensive federal groundwater strategy that involves all responsible federal and state agencies and:
     • a) Encourages water conservation to reduce consumption of groundwater.
     • b) Identifies appropriate recharging zones and best management practices to ensure water quality.
     • c) Protects critical recharge waters.
     • d) Protects groundwater from contamination by agricultural chemicals.
     • e) Regulates land uses that cause groundwater contamination.
     • f) Regarding underground injection:
       • (i) Prohibits the underground injection of hazardous wastes.
       • (ii) Recognizes that underground injection of water produced from Coal Bed Methane production may be acceptable.
       • (iii) Immediately stops permitting the underground injection of insufficiently treated surface or wastewater, or water that may disrupt natural salinity levels.
       • (iv) Revokes such existing injection permits and determines the extent of the movement of the injected materials and the concentrations of any contamination that has occurred.
       • (v) Ensures that responsible parties clean up these injection wells and properly treat and dispose of the recovered materials.
     • g) Sponsors research on groundwater contamination and saltwater intrusion.
     • h) Creates incentives for states to restrict groundwater withdrawals to the rate of recharge.
     • i) Utilizes the most appropriate tools and technology to monitor changes in groundwater caused by man-made disturbances and prevent pollution problems.
• D) Drinking Water
  1. The League supports a two-part drinking water protection program that protects surface water and groundwater supplies by requiring states to implement entire watershed protection programs that establish stricter standards for drinking water treatment and frequent monitoring.
  2. We urge measures that:
     • a) Ensure that all people, especially those at risk (elderly, youth, people with chronic diseases) have access to clean water.
     • b) Do not weaken the provisions protecting small cities with populations between 3,300 and 10,000.
     • c) Toughen drinking water standards to protect people against cancer-causing chemicals and deadly microorganisms by increased monitoring for both.
     • d) Increase funding to assist systems in paying for improvements.
     • e) Strengthen the enforcement authority of citizens and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that safe water standards are met.
     • f) Pass amendments to ensure citizens’ right to know about toxins and pathogens in their drinking water.
     • g) Establish national standards for water turbidity levels and particulate counts along with protocols for the issuance of boilwater advisories that eliminate all risk of illness and fatality.
• E) Air Quality
  1. Clean air is a public necessity; no person or agency has the right to degrade this resource.
  2. Federal, state, and local governments should take steps to prevent or control air pollution that damages public health or private property, causes acid deposition, reduces agricultural productivity, impairs visibility, or causes offensive odors.
  3. Effluent charges, pollution trading systems, and fines for wastes dumped into the air all can work to bring the costs of air pollution control into the marketplace.
  4. The League supports the fundamental features of the federal 1970 Clean Air Act, as well as the act’s 1977 and 1990 amendments, including:
     • a) National Ambient Air Quality Standards set at levels to protect public health and welfare and provide a margin of safety for sensitive members of the population (elderly, youth, pregnant women, and people with respiratory ailments). Standards are to be set without regard to cost.
     • b) State implementation plans that set deadlines for meeting standards.
     • c) Penalties for states that fail to make progress toward meeting standards.
     • d) Requiring the Best Available Control Technology for hazardous pollutants, such as asbestos, mercury, and vinyl chlorides.
     • e) Strict auto emissions standards for hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide, including a complete phase-out of the use of lead in gasoline.
     • f) Strict emissions standards for industrial facilities, as well as for new and existing solid-, medical-, and hazardous-waste incinerators.
     • g) The program for prevention of significant deterioration of clean air resources and standards to protect visibility in national parks and wilderness areas.
     • h) Transportation control strategies, alternative fuel requirements, and mandatory automobile inspection and maintenance programs for areas that do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
     • i) An acid rain control program that uses a pollution credit trading system and emissions monitoring program to reduce emissions by at least 10 million tons of sulfur dioxide and 2 to 4 million tons of nitrogen oxides from existing utility sources.
  5. The federal government should expand its public education program about the hazards of radon and indoor air pollution and should conduct a nationwide survey to assess the magnitude of the problem.
  6. The League endorses clean air campaigns that:
     • a) Require older and grandfathered coal-burning power plants to meet the same air pollution standards as similar modern plants.
     • b) Require electric utilities to disclose the price and environmental impact of the electricity offered.
• F) Greenhouse Gases
  1. The greenhouse effect—the name scientists give to the process in which certain gases are released into the air and block heat from escaping—will produce drastic and long-term climate changes that will surpass all other environmental crises past and present.
  2. The League urges the federal government to take action to:
     • a) Reduce combustion of fossil fuels by 60 percent by the year 2008.
     • b) Rapidly expand use of conservation and renewable energy sources.
     • c) Ban the use of chlorofluorocarbons.
     • d) Curtail worldwide deforestation.
  3. The League urges the federal government to:
     • a) Support the necessary action to achieve the emission reductions set forth in the Kyoto Protocol.
     • b) Work closely with China and other developing countries to ensure cooperation in tracking and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
     • c) Ensure that developing countries have access to clean-energy technologies that will ensure progress toward their commitments to greenhouse-gas reduction goals.
  4. Subject to the above conditions being met, the League calls on the
     U.S. Senate to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
• G) Radioactive Waste
  1. The League strongly urges the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to suspend the process of site selection for high-level radioactive waste repositories until the public is informed about the transportation, handling, duration, and adequacy of storage of these wastes.
  2. The League adopted its “no new nuclear plant construction policy” largely because of concerns about the creation of radioactive wastes for which no known safe method of disposal or storage existed. Massive amounts of these wastes continue to accumulate while the government seeks a safe, permanent storage facility. Transportation of these wastes across the country poses other risks to health and safety. The League urges that:
     • a) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and state regulatory authorities reject all applications for transport of nuclear plant waste beyond the property lines of the commercial plant where the waste was generated.
     • b) DOE take ownership responsibility for the safety and security of all in-site waste and any in-site decommissioning of commercial nuclear power plants.
     • c) The Nuclear Waste Fund continue to fund those decommissioning operations deemed safe and reliable by DOE, make appropriate compensation available, and/or relocate individuals who might be adversely affected by proximity to commercial nuclear power plants.
     • d) Research be conducted to develop alternative uses of nuclear waste material.
• H) Nuclear Proliferation
  1. The League urges that the United States negotiate with other countries that have nuclear weapons to achieve an immediate, mutual, and verifiable freeze and reduction in the numbers of nuclear weapons as stated in Senate Joint Resolution 2 in the 98th Congress.
• I) Solid Waste Management and Recycling
  1. The optimal strategy for solid waste control should first emphasize the reduction of potential wastes at the source before solid wastes are created. Then, programs should shift the nation’s “throwaway” philosophy to one of reusing and recycling waste materials. Finally, any remaining waste should be disposed of in properly managed facilities.
  2. The League encourages establishment of local, state, and national programs to increase awareness of littering problems and to promote education focused on litter prevention. The League further encourages full enforcement, by appropriate agencies, of existing and all future antilitter laws and ordinances.
  3. Waste material from manufacturing and other sources have raw materials that are potentially valuable in other processes. The League calls on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Commerce to develop “standard of equivalency” criteria for waste materials generated by manufacturing industries in order to create an increased potential to market and use what are now wasted resources.
  4. The League calls for the manufacture and marketing of nonpolluting and biodegradable products that can be reused or recycled, rather than those that impose disposal costs and deplete nonrenewable resources. The League supports economic incentives, such as state disposal fees and taxes, to help bring about these changes. To encourage recycling, all levels of government should create specifications for recycled materials, establish tax and financial incentives to encourage the use of recycled materials, eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers to the use of recycled materials, create longterm public information and education programs, and increase the budget for enforcement and oversight of our present solid waste regulatory program.
  5. Federal, state, and local governments should actively encourage the development of additional markets for old newsprint and the construction of de-inking paper plants near sources of old newsprint. To set an example, the League’s national headquarters, divisions, chapters, and members shall use recycled paper and refrain from expanding their use of polystyrene products and nonrecyclable containers to the greatest extent possible.
  6. The League urges state legislatures and the U.S. Congress to enact laws prohibiting the use of nonreturnable beverage containers. The League further supports the establishment of a uniform federal antilitter beverage container bill that would require a deposit on all beverage containers. This would include containers used to distribute any beverage as packaged by manufacturers and distributed for sale, whether used for water, fruit juices, carbonated beverages, beer, wine, liquor, or any other beverage.
  7. The League further encourages the establishment of efficient centers for ease of collections, and the use of some portion of deposit funds for local conservation and beautification projects. The ability to return empty drink containers to grocery stores and other places of purchase must be maintained.
  8. Congress should create pilot programs at federal facilities to demonstrate source reduction, recycling, and composting, and should appropriate funds to encourage the recycling, recovery, or reclaiming of items that are difficult to landfill, such as old tires.
  9. Each state should adopt a comprehensive solid waste management plan that:
     • a) Encourages reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, and resource recovery by creating regulatory and economic incentives.
     • b) Identifies sites that are environmentally safe and socially acceptable for landfilling or other disposal of wastes that cannot be recycled or reused.
     • c) Assures proper management of disposal sites and facilities. The League urges a moratorium on the construction of incinerators, except for infectious waste, until adequate federal standards are in place to protect human health and the environment.
     • d) Discourages the export of solid waste.
     • e) Allows rejection of landfill permits from firms that have a history of failing to manage facilities in an environmentally sound manner.
     • f) Regulates fossil-fuel combustion wastes as hazardous wastes.
  10. Tire disposal poses a massive environmental problem that is exacerbated by low-mileage tires. The League urges that all tires sold within the United States have at least a 60,000-mile warranty, and that all car makers be required to install 60,000-mile warranty tires or better on all new cars.
  11. Used motor oil is burned in gravity-fed furnaces, especially at service stations and garages, across the country with little if any regulation. These waste oils can be heavily contaminated and contribute to unacceptable levels of air pollution. The League opposes such burning of used motor oil.
• J) Sewage Sludge
  • 1) The Izaak Walton League believes that intensified efforts should be made to find beneficial uses of sewage sludge. It urges communities whose sludges are not contaminated with heavy metals and other undesirable chemicals to consider composting or other management that allows sludge to be applied to the land for beneficial purposes. The League also supports development of technology for producing useful energy from sewage sludges.
• K) Composting
  1. Nationwide, topsoil is being depleted rapidly on millions of acres of cropland. Composting can process municipal residential solid waste into agricultural humus that can be used as an additive to reduce the depletion of topsoil.
  2. Modern composting methods should involve sufficient separation of organic and inorganic compounds prior to composting, so that a compost will be produced that passes all federal and state standards for heavy metals and other toxins and has no adverse effects on human health and the environment. Compost should further contain an absolute minimum of solid inorganic materials and should be a product that can be safely added to soils to replenish organic matter.
  3. The League supports the use of composting facilities, including the use of co-composting methods that can reduce the solid waste stream significantly. Such facilities should produce Class 1 agricultural- grade humus from residential solid waste and sewage sludge.
  4. Soil is being depleted by intensive farming, erosion, urban sprawl, misuse of land, and highways. The League calls for the passage of a National Fertile Soils Act, which would establish a program to encourage the use of organic plant and animal waste to revitalize soils in a manner that does not adversely affect other resources.
• L) Hazardous and Toxic Substances
  1. To prevent any immediate or cumulative damage to human health or the environment by any of the thousands of new chemical substances fabricated every year, state, and federal agencies should:
     • a) Require that all potentially toxic or hazardous substances be tested thoroughly for safety prior to their introduction into the environment (substantially as now provided for by the Toxic Substances Control Act).
     • b) Strictly regulate or even prohibit the generation, transportation, storage, and ultimate disposal of substances that are likely to pose significant risks to human health or the environment.
     • c) Assure development of safe and effective ultimate disposal methods for all hazardous and toxic materials, including chemical warfare materials such as nerve gas.
     • d) Fund more research on the effects of pesticides on humans and wildlife, banning those pesticides that cause significant harmful effects.
     • e) End the production of and eliminate existing sources of persistent organic pollutants in a responsible environmental manner, and pursue aggressive programs for testing other chemicals whose toxic effects remain unknown.
     • f) Give strong consideration to the impacts on environment, people, fish, and wildlife populations that would result from any changes in pesticide regulation.
  2. The League calls for:
     • a) Each state to establish a waste disposal plan to properly collect and dispose of hazardous waste from residences and small businesses.
     • b) Terminating the manufacture, importation, and exportation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT, and related persistent pesticides, and banning all uses of cyclodiene pesticides such as chlordane, aldrin, heptachlor, and dieldrin.
     • c) Monitoring the use and persistence of pesticides in the environment.
     • d) Placing a moratorium on dredging river bottoms for navigation purposes and other areas where high concentrations of such chemicals occur until techniques are developed to prevent their re-release.
     • e) Establishing strict limitations on the use of the pesticide 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) and restrictions on the application of the herbicide 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid).
     • f) Developing alternatives that will cut the chlorine and chlorinebased compounds from pesticides, water treatment, solvents,
       and plastics.
  3. The League supports legislation that gives the public the right to know about hazards posed by toxic and hazardous chemicals in their environment and workplace. The burden of proof regarding the safety of a substance and the cost of controlling such substances should be borne by the manufacturer, user, or discharger of that substance.
  4. The League believes that the export of hazardous waste materials should be prohibited.
  5. Government should enact and enforce laws and regulations requiring that the location and constituents of major oil, toxic or hazardous substance spills, storage areas or disposal sites, be legally recorded in property records and titles.
  6. The League supports the federal Superfund program, funded primarily by fees levied on the oil and chemical industries, to clean up abandoned disposal sites. The fund also should be used to compensate victims of toxic exposure and to mitigate environmental damage.
  7. The League recommends phasing out toxic petroleum-based solvents and promoting the further development of nontoxic substitutes.
  8. Electric-generating facilities in Florida are considering converting to a new fuel known as Orimulsion. This would be the first use of this fuel in the United States and its impacts on human health, agriculture, and estuarine systems are unknown. The League opposes the use of Orimulsion fuel at this time.
  9. The League opposes the continued use of the additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) in gasoline since it is carcinogenic and has been shown to infiltrate groundwater supplies. Any new additive for commercial or military fuel must undergo thorough testing for all adverse environmental and human health effects prior to approval for general use. At this time, ethanol appears to be a safer oxygenate than other chemicals.
• M) Pesticides
  1. The League recognizes that control of pests often is desirable, necessary, and in the public interest. The public interest also requires that:
     • a) Biological controls should be developed and applied to the fullest practicable extent.
     • b) If pesticides are required for pest control, they should be as selective and nonpersistent as possible.
     • c) Public health and the environment should be protected from immediate and cumulative effects of pesticide use.
     • d) Federal pesticide control laws should:
       • (i) Enhance citizens’ right to sue.
       • (ii) Strengthen worker safety and job protection provisions.
       • (iii) Require strict testing and adequate labeling of pesticides before they are placed on the market.
       • (iv) Strengthen the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to restrict, suspend, or ban dangerous pesticides.
       • (v) Require pesticide applicators to be trained and certified.
  2. No federal law should impair states’ rights to enact standards stronger than contained in federal laws.
  3. Pesticides and other toxins—especially persistent and bioaccumulative substances—should be kept out of the nation’s waters.
  4. Testing for pesticide residues on imported produce has not been adequate to protect the health of American consumers. Therefore, the League advocates expanded federal testing for pesticide residues at all ports of entry so that contaminated produce can be kept off the market. The League supports an adequate number of food inspectors at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure a safe food supply and to expand research on food safety.
• N) Oil spills
  1. The League supports oil spill liability legislation that requires a standard of strict, joint, and several liability for all who handle and transport oil. This liability shall extend to property, natural resource damage, clean-up rehabilitation, and long-term monitoring without any ceiling on corporate liability for spills. A fund to clean up emergency spills should be financed from a tax on oil production, but states shall have the right to establish more stringent oil spill standards.
  2. Cleaning up contaminated sediments from the nation’s waterways poses a variety of risks, which can be addressed through existing practices and treatments. The League finds that:
     • a) Disposal and remediation of toxic organic compounds should be done by best management practices based on studies of individual pollution sites.
     • b) Proper studies should also be done in areas of pollution after remediation to verify a decrease in movement of the toxins and effects on the environment.
     • c) Field tests are only a first step in proper remediation.
     • d) Removal and remediation plans should include local and downstream monitoring to ensure that toxins are not merely redistributed.
     • e) Storage of these toxins must be considered temporary until technology is developed to eliminate them.
• O) Electromagnetic Fields
  1. The League urges the U.S. Department of Defense to conduct studies on low-level electromagnetic fields produced by power lines and the “extremely low frequency” (ELF) project and to place a moratorium on expanding similar projects until the environmental effects are known and adequately provided for.
• P) Light Pollution
  1. Electrical lighting constitutes 20 percent of the power generated in the United States. Unnecessary light (that which offers no extra safety or security) interferes with bird migration and nocturnal habits of other animals and ruins the natural beauty of the night sky. Current technology could reduce the electricity required for lighting by 50 percent. The League commends those programs that promote lighting efficiency such as the International Dark-Sky Association and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Lights Program. The League encourages its members to:
     • a) Minimize the inefficient usage of light.
     • b) Use only shielded lights to eliminate “light trespass”.
     • c) Replace mercury or halogen lighting where high- or low-pressure sodium lighting will work.
     • d) Use timers or photocells to shut off lights when not needed.
     • e) Refrain from using exterior globe lighting except in cases of personal safety.
• Q) Noise Pollution
  1. The League recognizes that noise can damage human health and detract from the quality of the environment and therefore advocates:
     • a) Diligent enforcement of the Noise Control Act of 1972.
     • b) Comprehensive and systematic noise abatement plans for federally funded mass transit systems.
     • c) Government purchasing policies that encourage the use of quieter equipment and vehicles.
• R) Environmental Impacts of Construction
  1. All construction activities—particularly construction of public facilities such as highways, dams, sewers, and energy installations— should provide for the protection of environmental values. Costs of such protection should be included when calculating the total cost of the project. Furthermore, all new highway construction should take advantage of existing transportation corridors.
  2. Plans and programs for the construction and maintenance of public facilities should enhance environmental values by including lakes, roadside recreation areas, hiking and bicycle paths, wildlife plantings, access to streams, and the like.
  3. Plastic netting materials are commonly promoted for the “stabilization” of the banks and bottoms of waterways. Frequently, this material comes loose and forms snags and tangles. The material is not easily biodegraded. The League opposes the use of plastic netting for these purposes and urges appropriate authorities to stipulate that only natural fiber material be used.
  4. Utility companies, municipalities, or other entities, whether private or governmental, that use temporary markers to post locations at project sites should use markers made of biodegradable materials, or should take responsibility for the removal of non-biodegradable materials upon completion of the project.
  5. State and federal agencies should be required to collect data to predict the effects of in-stream construction/excavation on the total stream ecosystem. These finding should be made available to the public.