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Forty years later, a much-improved Cuyahoga, and much work still to do
Published on Friday, Jun 26, 2009
If 40 years have not quite erased the jokes about the river that caught fire, they have traced a remarkable advance in national and local attitudes and policies toward the environment. The burning Cuyahoga, its waters polluted with industrial wastes from manufacturing plants and slaughterhouses and sewage from combined sewers and choked with all manner of debris, served as a catalyst for both the Clean Water Act of 1972, landmark legislation to repair polluted rivers and bodies of water, including the Great Lakes, and for creating the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Cleveland marked four decades of cleanup on Monday with much to show for the sustained effort and much deserved applause. The progress in reclaiming the river is evident in its prominent role in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, its rising popularity as a place for recreation and the growing number of fish species and aquatic insects now thriving in sections of the river.
And yet for all the achievements, there is much work ahead. The U.S. EPA made that reality jarringly clear by denying a request from the Ohio EPA and the Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan to remove sections of the river from a list of 43 Great Lakes sites designated as polluted. The federal agency acknowledged the improvements achieved, but insisted all the pollution problems along the river's entire 100-mile length must be fixed for the river to come off the list. The denial is disappointing, but hardly surprising. It should offer incentive to press on.
The remaining work to reclaim and protect the quality of the nation's waters and wetlands extends beyond Cleveland. Congress must reassert unequivocally the intent of the 1972 legislation to cover all the nation's waters by approving the Clean Water Restoration Act. The clarity would strengthen protections that U.S. Supreme Court rulings have unduly weakened and bolster the authority of federal agencies to enforce the laws against pollution.
Get the full article here.
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