Agenda - 09-21-2010 - 4g - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

12 whether the water body at issue has a chemical, physical, or biological effect on a traditionally navigable water. In the summer of 2007, St Louis County was faced with a decision by the Army Corps of Engineers that required them to undergo jurisdictional determinations on 36 separate wetlands, some as small as 0.007 acres, for a 4.74 mile-long road project For public safety reasons, the county needed to fix the road; for complications due to the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Clean Water Actin the Rapanos case, the Army Corps felt it needed to evaluate each of the 36 wetlands individually. '' ~ " ; ~"~ ~;'""` "" According to former St. Louis County Public Works Director/County Engineer Marcus J. Hall, ~~ ~ ~ ~` ' in his testimony to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in 2007, the ~~ ~ y` ~~ , county anticipated a year long delay due to jurisdictional determinations. He said, "I ~~ believe that the Rapanos and Carabell decisions (or non-decisions) have thrown the federal regulatory agencies into turmoil and both the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers into a ~~ ~ scramble on how to implement the new rulings. The latest agency guidelines (dated June ~~ ~ :~_ 5, 2007) are very complex. The typical 60 to 120 day permit process has now slowed to a ~;~~. +~""; ~ ~ ~n - crawl. What the guidelines do is take a one-step process consisting of applying for the ' permit and turn it into a two-step process consisting of (1) applying for a review of your Heavy equipment working on the road. project to see if it falls under their jurisdiction and then (2) applying for the permit." He also said, "With construction inflation typically running between 4 percent and 7 percent, this represents an annual cost of between $1 and $2 million in delays for St. Louis County." County staff reports of what it actually took ranged from a few weeks to a couple of months. Besides the increased costs due to inflation over that period of time, there was also the cost of increased staff time dealing with the Army Corps on the 36 determinations. While no one was at risk of bodily harm because of the delay, the post-Rapanos confusion '° , did increase uncertainty and county costs. The reconstruction of this county road connecting to Highway 47 is now completed. ~== -~-= - - - More recently, the Army Corps has revised its policy to allow prospective permittees to r' - ~.;.~ waive a formal jurisdictional determination and to stipulate to Clean Water Act jurisdiction ~` ' ~ a"~ ~ over the wetlands in order to proceed with the normal permitting process. St. Louis County M:--<-~ typically waives the formal jurisdictional determination, which, in turn, has reduced the ~~ --~-...w. ~w~ ~ ;: time necessary to receive the Clean Water Act permit. Almosf finished. "In northeastern Minnesota we are blessed by abundant clean water. We have Lake Superior, over `~` a thousand lakes and hundreds of rivers and streams, so we have a responsibility to care for this - ~ great treasure," said St. Louis County Commissioner Steve O'Neil. ~ a~', DANE COUNTY, WI: ~ Steve O'Neil Water Pollution Brings Illness and Death }ti, , , You know you have a problem when your dog can drink from the toilet and live, and drink out of your $~~. ~ -.~ lake and die. "r Dane County's drinking water, beaches and lakes are what make it special, but a recent report by the Public Health department shows citizens can be at risk. A woman swimming in Lake Mendota next to the University of Wisconsin's Memorial Union-one of their most beloved landmarks-was sickened in 2008 by blue-green algae; dogs have died after drinking from the lakes. In 2002, Dane Rogers died from blue-green algae poisoning after swimming in a local pond. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that, "After a yearlong investigation, the Dane County coroner ...concluded that the A counrysupervisor's dog mysterious death of a Cottage Grove teenager last summer likely was the first in the nation caused by making the point exposure to a toxin released by algae. 9 Clean Water For All: County Leaders Speak Out for Clean Water A portion of [he county road needing reconstruction.