Staff Reporter

My husband is such a clean freak he makes me sanitise my body in a sauna before we have sex

February 24, 2022 by Staff Reporter

A WOMAN has revealed that her husband is so terrified of germs that he makes her sanitise her body in a sauna before they have sex.

Brian is a self-confessed germaphobe and spends hours of his day disinfecting and sanitising every part of his home and office space.

Brian is a self-confessed germaphobe who makes his wife Christy sanitise her body before they have sexCredit: TLC

Christy is made to sit in a sauna before she can be intimate with BrianCredit: TLC

Brian whacks the temperature up to 160 degrees farenheit in order to kill off any bacteria

He wore a mask to the office long before the pandemic hit, carries a UV light to run over anything he touches, and even refuses to eat his wife Christy’s favourite food, sushi, in case it harbours any parasites.

But that is the least of Christy’s worries.

When Brian purchased a sauna for their cellar, at first Christy was thrilled, but she soon learnt that he had no intention of using it for fun.

Speaking on TLC’s Extreme Germaphobes, she says: “When we first got the sauna, it was awesome.

“We had a lot of great moments, intimate moments but now it’s gone from sexy to unsexy.

“It can go up to 160 degrees and in Brian’s eyes that level of heat will sanitise my body.

“My husband requests I sit in there by myself, to sanitise myself before we get intimate and sometimes I think it’s killing our romance.”

Brian, who also uses the sauna to disinfect dirty laundry before it’s washed, insists Christy keeps everything she owns santisised at all times.

“I have to do all these things to be sanitised, like I am cleaning my makeup,” she says.

“For Brian these brushes are dirty and he thinks they’re disgusting and that’s really something he wants me to do everyday.”

Extreme Germaphobes is available to stream now exclusively on discovery+

She is also forced to clean her makeup before wearing itCredit: TLC

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EPA Awards Over $200,000 to Puerto Rico to Expand Understanding of Wetlands

February 24, 2022 by Staff Reporter

February 24, 2022

NEW YORK – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it has awarded a grant for over $200,000 to the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources to update the United States Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetland Inventory maps for Puerto Rico.

“Wetlands in Puerto Rico are critical to supporting healthy aquatic ecosystems as well as providing flood and erosion control, stabilizing shorelines, and supplying food and habitat for fish and wildlife,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “These grants will help improve scientific understanding of wetlands in Puerto Rico .”

With the grant, the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) will generate updated National Wetland Inventory (NWI) spatial data for Puerto Rico, as current wetland inventories are decades out of date. As part of the update, DNER will use remote imagery to delineate the boundaries of wetlands and classify what type of wetland they are. In Puerto Rico there are tidal, forested, and scrub-shrub wetlands, as well as other types of wetlands. The remote imaging will then be confirmed with field visits. This will improve knowledge of wetland distribution for regulators and the general public which will, in turn, improve the ability to monitor and assess wetlands in Puerto Rico.

EPA’s Wetland Program Development Grants provide an opportunity to promote and accelerate research and improve the ability to investigate wetlands. The program also improves the capacity to train wetlands staff and conduct surveys and studies related to water pollution and its impacts on wetlands.

For more information on these grants, visit: https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/federal-funding-wetlands

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://facebook.com/eparegion2

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9 Tips on How to Care for Rubber Tree Indoors (Infographic)

February 24, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Rubber Tree (Ficus elastica) is a very popular houseplant. Known for its bold, glossy leaves. Your Rubber Plant will make a statement in any indoor space. There are many beautiful cultivars of Rubber plants. Ficus elastica variegata is a stunning ficus plant with magnificent white, green, pink leaves. Here are tips on how to take care of your Rubber Plant.

Rubber Tree Infographic

Rubber tree inforgraphic

9 Tips on How to Care for Rubber Tree Indoors

1. Your Rubber Tree is Happiest in Bright Indirect Light

Rubber Trees will thrive in a bright area with indirect sunlight. Too much shade will result in poor growth. You can filter direct sunlight using sheer blinds or curtains. Filter intense afternoon sun. Direct sun from south facing windows will also need to be filtered.

2. Moderate Water is Best for Rubber Tree

Water your Rubber Plant when the soil feels dry. The best way to tell when it is time to water your Rubber Plant is to feel the soil. Stick your finger in the soil 1 inch deep. If the soil feels dry, it’s time to water your Rubber Plant. If the soil is wet, then don’t water your Rubber Plant.

Also take into account the environment, if it’s in the middle of summer you can probably water your Rubber Plant more frequently. If it’s during winter you can err on the side of less frequent watering.

3. Your Rubber Tree Needs Organic Soil

Rubber Tree needs a well-draining, organic potting mix. Only buy organic soil mix because the fertilizer is not as concentrated in organic soil. Non-organic soil should really only be used for outdoor plants.

4. Fertilize Your Rubber Tree

Rubber Tree should be fertilized once a month when it is actively growing. When it’s dormant, during the fall and winter, don’t fertilize.

5. Don’t forget to Repot Your Rubber Tree

Repot your Rubber Plant every year. Buy a large, heavy pot, around 4 inches larger (diameter) than the current pot. If you have a big Rubber Plant plant, get a heavy pot so it doesn’t topple over. Make sure you buy a pot that has drainage holes at the bottom so water doesn’t accumulate and cause root rot.

Know that repotting your Rubber Plant will make it grow larger. When it reaches the size you want it to be at, you should stop repotting your Rubber Plant.

6. Drainage is Essential for Rubber Tree

After watering your Rubber Plant and you see water draining out of the pot’s drainage holes, make sure you empty out the accumulated water in the saucer. Don’t let your Rubber Plant’s pot sit in this puddle of water. It will cause root rot!

7. Get the Temperature Right for Rubber Tree

Your Rubber Plant is a tropical plant. It needs to have daytime temperatures of 70F to 80 Fahrenheit (21-26C). Nighttime temperature should be at 60-70 Fahrenheit (15-21 C).

8. Keep Your Rubber Tree Dust Free

Dust accumulates on your Rubber Plant leaves overtime. The layer of dust decreases the plant’s ability to photosynthesize. Periodically wiping down the leaves of your Rubber Plant with a damp cloth will help keep your plant healthy. You can also use a duster or dry duster cloth to wipe off the layer of dust on leaves.

9. Humidity is Vital for Your Rubber Tree

Your Rubber Tree is a tropical plant that thrives in humid conditions. Indoor air can be drying. Make sure you do your best to increase indoor humidity. You can do this by spraying your Rubber Plant with water twice a week. Turn on the humidifier. Keep Rubber Plant in a saucer filled with water. But make sure the pot is elevated with pot feet or pebbles so your Rubber Plant is not sitting directly on the water.

Related Ficus Plants: How to Care for Your Fiddle-Fig Tree (Ficus lyrata) and How to Care for Your Ficus Audrey

3 Common Rubber Tree Problems

The common problems for Rubber Tree are scale, leaf drop and root rot.

Rubber Plant Looks Wilted (Soil is Wet)

Problem: Your Rubber Plant looks wilted even if the soil is wet. Check for root rot by pulling the plant out and examining the roots. If the roots of your Rubber Plant plant look mushy (healthy roots are firm) and the roots are gray to black in color, these are telltale signs of root rot.

Root Rot

Cause: Root rot is caused by fungus and is a serious problem for your Rubber Plant. Root rot is a result of wet soil due to overwatering or poor drainage.

Solution: When your Rubber Plant is afflicted with root rot the chance of survival is slim. Your best course of action is to throw your Rubber Plant out and start over with a new plant. This time don’t overwater your Rubber Plant and make sure there is good drainage in the pot.

Leaves Falling Off Rubber Plant

Problem: The leaves of your Rubber Plant are falling off, that is a sign that something is wrong. It’s normal if one or two old leaves fall off your Rubber Plant but if a lot of leaves fall off all at once that is a sure sign that something is wrong.

Falling Leaves

Cause: It’s possible your Rubber Plant leaves are falling because it’s been overwatered. Moving your Rubber Plant to a new location where it is not happy can also cause the leaves of your Rubber Plant to fall. Your Rubber Plant can also drop leaves if it’s too cold.

Solution: You need to do a little bit of digging around. Did you overwater your Rubber Plant? What is the daytime and nighttime temperature of the room, is it suitable for your Rubber Plant? You can resolve the leaves dropping problem, once you pinpoint what is causing the leaves to fall from your Rubber Plant.

Many Small Brown Bumps on Rubber Plant Leaves

Problem: If you see little brown bumps all over the leaves and stems of your Rubber Plant, that can be a sign of scale. Try picking the bumps off, if it’s easily removed then that’s a telltale sign of scale. The little bumps can also be gray, yellow or black.

Scale on leaves

Cause: Scale is common on houseplants and is caused by scale insects.

Solution: You can get rid of scale by picking them off one by one. Or the easier way to get rid of scale is to spray your Rubber Plant with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil.

Check out our article on how to make your own homemade pesticides using baby shampoo: How to Make Horticultural Oil and How to Make Insecticidal Soap

Rubber Tree: Frequently Asked Questions

What are Other Names of Rubber Tree?

Rubber Tree is also called rubber fig, rubber plant, rubber bush or Indian rubber bush.

Can You Use Cold Water When Watering Your Rubber Tree?

Don’t use straight cold water from the tap to water your Rubber Plant. Rubber Plant prefers cool water that is not hot and not cold. When you turn on the cold water from the faucet add a little bit of warm water.

You can also get to this ideal temperature by filling a watering can or pitcher with water and leaving it out overnight until the water is at room temperature.

What Fertilizer Should You Use for Your Rubber Tree?

Use organic fertilizers with a higher ratio of nitrogen content.

How Big Does Your Rubber Tree Get?

Rubber Tree plants are large plants that can grow to 12 feet tall indoors. You will need a heavy pot for your Rubber Plant so it doesn’t topple over.

How Do You Propagate Your Rubber Tree?

Rubber Tree plants are difficult to propagate. One way to propagate your Rubber Plant is by air layering. It is not easy to propagate your Rubber Plant via air layering.

Facts About Rubber Tree

Rubber Tree Varieties

Fiscus elastica Robusta– Has round glossy, leaves

Fiscus elastica Abidjan– Underside of leaves are reddish/pinkish

Ficus elastica Variegata– Has beautiful variegated leaves

Ficus elastica variegata

Rubber Tree at a Glance

Name	Rubber Tree
Scientific Name	Ficus elastica
Light	Bright Indirect Light
Daytime Temperature	70 to 80 F (21-26C)
Night Time Temperature	60 to 70 F (15-21C)
Water	Moderate Water
Humidity	High Humidity
Potting	Well-draining, organic, all-purpose potting soil
Fertilizer	Once a month but not in the Fall or Winter

Rubber Tree Plant Information

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EPA Awards Over $65,000 to U.S. Virgin Islands Government to Expand Understanding of Wetlands

February 24, 2022 by Staff Reporter

February 24, 2022

NEW YORK – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it had awarded a grant for over $65,000 to the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands to update the United States Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetland Inventory maps for the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“Wetlands in the U.S. Virgin Islands are critical to supporting healthy aquatic ecosystems as well as providing flood and erosion control, stabilizing shorelines, and supplying food and habitat for fish and wildlife,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “These grants will help improve scientific understanding of wetlands in the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

With the grant, the U.S. Virgin Islands Government will update the National Wetland Inventory (NWI) for wetlands in the U.S. Virgin Islands. As part of the update, remote imagery will be used to delineate the boundaries of wetlands in the USVI and classify what type of wetland they are. In the U.S. Virgin Islands there are tidal and scrub-shrub wetlands, as well as other types of wetlands. The remote imaging will then be confirmed with field visits. This will improve the knowledge of wetland distribution for regulators and the general public which will, in turn, improve the ability to monitor and assess wetlands in the USVI.

EPA’s Wetland Program Development Grants provide an opportunity to promote and accelerate research and improve the ability to investigate wetlands. The program also improves capacity to train wetlands staff, and conduct surveys and studies related to water pollution and it’s impacts on wetlands.

For more information on these grants, visit: https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/federal-funding-wetlands

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://facebook.com/eparegion2

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As U of T retrofits buildings, researcher studies links between built environment and well-being

February 24, 2022 by Staff Reporter

As the University of Toronto implements energy retrofits to buildings across its three campuses to meet its ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, one group of researchers will use the opportunity to improve the well-being of students, faculty and staff.  

The research project, titled “Wellbeing and The Built Environment: A New Framework for U of T Campus Building Performance Assessment,” will be co-led by Marianne Touchie, an assistant professor in the department of civil and mineral engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and aims to create a new standard for holistic building performance.     

“We want to inform the retrofit process by trying to link specific aspects of the built environment to wellness outcomes of the people living and working in these spaces,” says Touchie. “We plan to do this through pre- and post-retrofit assessments using indoor environmental quality measurements and inhabitant feedback.” 

The project is supported by U of T Engineering’s Dean Strategic Fund and includes John Robinson, a professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and the School of the Environment, Alstan Jakubiec, an assistant professor at the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, and Blake Poland, an associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. The researchers will work alongside the facilities teams led by Ron Saporta, U of T’s chief operating officer, property services and sustainability.

The researchers will deploy sensors to measure indoor air quality and temperature, and employ an app that accepts real-time feedback from building inhabitants.

“One aspect of the study that I am really excited about is testing the large-scale use of a technique called Photovoice,” says Touchie. “We will prompt respondents to take photos of aspects of the campus-built environment that add to or detract from their well-being.” 

Not only will the project assess environmental and economic benchmarks, but it also intends to measure the impact of these retrofits on people working and living in these buildings.  

“This is a complex topic with many distinct aspects of the individual, the space, the building and the broader community all impacting how the inhabitant feels,” says Touchie. “Previous research has tended to focus on thermal comfort, visual comfort or indoor air quality independently, and what we are really trying to do is to bring all those elements together into a common framework.”  

The Earth Sciences Centre, as seen from Huron Street, is among the locations on campus that researchers intend to study (photo by Chris Thomaidis)

Touchie and her collaborators will be developing the assessment approaches this year and plan to begin pre-retrofit evaluations in early 2023. They hope the project will contribute to the growing body of knowledge on how aspects of the built environment influence people’s well-being, and that the assessment methods they develop can be integrated into U of T’s building retrofit process.  

“While these retrofits are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change and reach U of T’s climate-positive-by-2050 goal, through this project we are hoping to find ways to leverage these retrofits to also be ‘people positive’ by retrofitting spaces to improve comfort, productivity, health for students, staff and faculty,” Touchie says. 

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Clean Air Act Cost Benefit Analysis Is Required Only When Authorized By Statute, Except If It Is Imposed By Executive Order, But Cost Benefit Analysis Imposed By Executive Order Can Only Be Modified As Directed By Statute | (ACOEL) | American College of Environmental Lawyers

February 24, 2022 by Staff Reporter

The law of regulatory cost benefit analysis just became even more incoherent under a ruling of the Western District of Louisiana enjoining implementation of President Biden’s executive order setting parameters to establish the social cost of carbon for use in regulatory analysis. Invoking the “major questions doctrine,” the Court in Louisiana v. Biden reasoned that E.O 13,990’s direction to consider the value of global environmental harms flowing from greenhouse gas emissions could not be adopted absent a clear statutory mandate to consider extraterritorial benefits of regulatory action.

Cost benefit analysis for Clean Air Act regulations has a tortuous history, which just got more twisted.

In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled in Whitman v. American Trucking Association that EPA must not consider regulatory costs in establishing health based National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone and particulate matter. Justice Scalia’s opinion for the Court reasoned that the statute made clear that the NAAQS were to be based solely on public health considerations, and, in language that was to become the touchstone of the major questions doctrine, Congress does not “hide elephants” (i.e., cost benefit analysis) in “mouseholes.”

Of course, notwithstanding Whitman, regulatory agencies have been including cost benefit analysis in regulatory review under executive orders issued and renewed by every Presidential administration since Ronald Reagan issued E.O. 12,291 in 1981, requiring that “Regulatory action shall not be undertaken unless the potential benefits to society for the regulation outweigh the potential costs to society.“ Indeed, it is a little known fact that stringent proposed health-based ozone and PM-10 NAAQS were abandoned by the Obama Administration during regulatory impact review based on the exact sort of cost benefit analysis the Supreme Court said EPA must not consider. The regulatory review executive orders have been issued not pursuant to statute, but under the President’s inherent authority to supervise agency administration within the executive branch. Each regulatory executive order included a disclaimer that it did not purport to modify any statutory standards for regulatory action.

The Supreme Court clouded Clean Air Act cost benefit analysis in its decision in Michigan v. EPA, ruling (in another Justice Scalia opinion) that under an open-ended statutory standard for regulatory action, consideration of regulatory costs was not only permitted, but required before regulatory action. The Court sent EPA’s determination that it was “appropriate” to regulate coal fired power plants under the air toxics provisions of Clean Air Act § 112 back to the agency for reconsideration.

Now, the Western District of Louisiana has enjoined the Biden administration from considering global regulatory benefits of regulating greenhouse gases, reasoning that there is no clear statutory authority to place a value on global environmental benefits of regulatory action during regulatory impact review. If this decision holds, then apparently (1) cost benefit analysis is precluded under specific regulatory standards that do not include cost (Whitman), (2) cost benefit analysis can be applied anyway, without statutory authorization, by executive order, (3) costs must be considered under open ended statutory standards (Michigan), (and 4) extra-statutory regulatory review of costs and benefits established by executive order cannot be modified to expand consideration of benefits without clear statutory authority (Louisiana v Biden). There are any number of reasons that the Western District of Louisiana’s decision may not hold (ripeness is a real issue in the case), but at least for now, the law of regulatory cost-benefit review just became more incoherent than ever.

Photo Credit: Climate Change and Developing Countries – Public Health Notes

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EPA Awards Over $450,000 to New Jersey to Expand Understanding of Wetlands

February 24, 2022 by Staff Reporter

February 24, 2022

NEW YORK – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it has awarded grants for over $450,000 to two entities in New Jersey that will foster their programs to help protect wetlands. The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority received two grants totaling $347,535, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection received one grant for $102,509.

“New Jersey’s wetlands are critical to supporting healthy aquatic ecosystems as well as providing flood and erosion control, stabilizing shorelines, and supplying food and habitat for fish and wildlife,” said EPA Regional Administrator Lisa F. Garcia. “These grants will help improve protections for and scientific understanding of wetlands in New Jersey.”

The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) was awarded $179,454 to measure the sustainability of marshes under future sea-level rise conditions in the Meadowlands of New Jersey. The purpose is to measure indicators of marsh resilience to identify marshes in the Hackensack Meadowlands that have the best chance of persisting under future sea-level rise.

NJSEA received a second grant for $168,081 for a project to understand how to adapt Sawmill Creek to lessen climate change weaknesses. The funding will help assess the Meadowlands’ Sawmill Creek Wildlife Management Area to improve understanding of the site’s vulnerability to increasing impacts due to climate change. Furthermore, the grantee will estimate the current carbon storage in the area and its potential future capacity to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection was awarded $102,509 in grant funding to provide baseline documentation for salt marsh ponds as potential reservoirs of harmful algal blooms (HAB) for New Jersey coastal ecosystems due to climate change. Certain environmental conditions in water bodies can intensify algae growth, causing algal blooms. Blooms with the potential to harm human health or aquatic ecosystems are referred to as harmful algal blooms or HABs. The project includes sampling of salt marsh ponds on the Tuckerton Peninsula for HAB species through laboratory analysis, performing DNA sequencing, interpretation, and the analysis of results, and developing a website to host project results and distribution maps.

EPA’s Wetland Program Development Grants provide an opportunity to promote and accelerate research and improve the ability to investigate wetlands. The program also improves capacity to train wetlands staff, and conduct surveys and studies related to water pollution and it’s impacts on wetlands.

For more information on these grants, visit: https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/federal-funding-wetlands

Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://facebook.com/eparegion2

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State of Emergency Ends in Oregon April 1st, Masks March 19th

February 24, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Oregon’s state of emergency to end April 1st (townsquare media)

Oregon Governor Kate Brown has issued a statement saying the state of emergency will end April 1st…how appropriate.

Oregon will also ditch masks 2 days before WA

The Oregon Health Authority had originally said it would make March 31st the day for masks to be optional in schools, however, based upon their ‘evidence’ they have chosen March 19th as the day when mandatory masks will vanish.

Gov. Brown also issued the statement saying the dropping rates, rapid decreases from Omicron cases prompted the emergency conditions to end.

No word on when Washington state will do so

While masks in WA state will be going away (non-mandatory) on March 21st, Gov. Inslee has given no date or idea of a date when our state of emergency will end.

Many legislators and GOP officials believe Inslee is hesitant, because once the state of emergency is officially over, there go his emergency powers.

KEEP READING: See 25 natural ways to boost your immune system

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Avian Flu Spread in the US Worries Poultry Industry

February 24, 2022 by Staff Reporter

The 2014-15 outbreak is considered the most destructive in the nation’s history. It sent poultry and egg prices soaring and cost the industry more than $3 billion — though the federal government compensated farmers for lost flocks. In the end, nearly 50 million birds were killed by the virus or destroyed to prevent its spread, a vast majority of them in Iowa and Minnesota.

John Burkel, 54, a fourth-generation turkey grower in northern Minnesota, has been watching the spread with trepidation. In 2015, the virus tore through his farm in a matter of days, leaving just 70 survivors in a shed that had held 7,000 birds. The weeks that followed were spent culling, composting the dead and then repeatedly disinfecting the barns.

As a precaution, health officials also advised that he and his son take a course of the antiviral drug Tamiflu. “We’ve never seen a virus that virulent,” said Mr. Burkel, a state legislator who works the farm with his wife and two children. “It was just horrible.”

Since then, agriculture officials across the country have pushed farmers to embrace an array of biosecurity measures aimed at preventing outbreaks. They include sealing up tiny holes that might allow mice or sparrows to enter barns, disinfecting the tires of feed-delivery trucks before they enter a farm and creating “clean” and “dirty” zones where workers can change into fresh footwear and coveralls before stepping inside an animal containment shed.

At the same time, experts say that federal officials have strengthened the nationwide system of surveillance that allows researchers to track, in almost real time, an avian flu’s spread within wild bird populations. “I think the crisis of 2015 made us realize it takes a village to prevent an outbreak and has left us much better prepared,” said Dr. Yuko Sato, a poultry veterinarian at Iowa State University who advises local farmers about improving their biosecurity practices.

But hypervigilance has its limits, especially against a microscopic pathogen that can infiltrate a barn on the leg of a single housefly. For a growing number of scientists, the real threat is the nation’s industrialized system of meat and dairy production, with its reliance on genetically identical creatures packed by the thousands inside huge confinement sheds.

Nearly all the nine billion chickens raised and slaughtered in the United States each year can trace their lineage to a handful of breeds that have been manipulated to favor fast growth and plump breasts. The birds are also exceptionally vulnerable to outbreaks of disease. “They all have the same immune system, or lack of an immune system, so once a virus gets inside a barn, it’s going to spread like wildfire,” said Dr. Hansen, the public health veterinarian.

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EPA and Army Select 10 Roundtables to Highlight Regional Implications of WOTUS

February 24, 2022 by Staff Reporter

February 24, 2022

WASHINGTON (Feb. 24, 2022) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of the Army (the agencies) announced the selection of ten geographically varied roundtables with participants representing diverse perspectives. The agencies will work with each selected roundtable to facilitate discussion on implementation of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), while highlighting regional differences.

“EPA and Army are committed to listening to all sides and working to foster a common-ground approach to WOTUS that protects our environment and is informed by the experience of those who steward our waters day-in and day-out,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox. “Through these regional roundtables, we will work toward a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities to enhance WOTUS implementation to support public health, environmental protection, agricultural activity, and economic growth.”

“The Department of the Army, together with the EPA, is committed to gaining a better understanding of the various regional perspectives through these roundtables to develop an implementation approach that accounts for these diverse voices and regional variations,” said Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael L. Connor. “In addition, the Army hopes to identify implementation considerations and tools that could assist in effective, consistent, and efficient implementation across the nation.”

EPA and Army are announcing the selection of ten roundtables that highlight geographic differences and a range of perspectives—including agriculture, conservation groups, developers, drinking water and wastewater managers, environmental organizations, communities with environmental justice concerns, industry, Tribal nations, and state and local governments. The ten selected roundtables are:

Amigos Bravos (Southwest)
Arizona Farm Bureau (Southwest)
Cahaba Brewing (Southeast)
California Farm Bureau (West)
Kansas Livestock Association (Midwest)
Natural Resources Defense Council (Northeast)
National Parks Conservation Association (Midwest)
North Carolina Farm Bureau (Southeast)
Regenerative Agriculture Foundation (Midwest)
Wyoming County Commissioners Association / Montana Association of Counties / Idaho Association of Counties (West)

These regional roundtables are one important mechanism for the agencies to consider the regional variation in implementation of WOTUS, given the diverse water quality and quantity conditions in diverse parts of the United States. The regional roundtables will provide opportunities to discuss geographic similarities and differences, particular water resources that are characteristic of or unique to each region, and site-specific feedback about the ongoing implementation of WOTUS by the agencies. The agencies anticipate hosting these regional roundtables virtually over the spring and summer.

The agencies most recently concluded a public comment period on the proposed rule to re-establish the pre-2015 definition of WOTUS that had been in place for decades, updated to reflect consideration of Supreme Court decisions. The agencies also hosted public hearings on the proposed rule. Prior to proposal, the agencies requested written comments, hosted listening sessions, and conducted Federalism consultation with state and local governments. In addition, the agencies participated in a roundtable organized by the Small Business Administration.

For more information visit: www.epa.gov/wotus.

Background

The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of pollutants from a point source to navigable waters unless otherwise authorized under the Act. Navigable waters are defined in the Act as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” Thus, “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) is a threshold term establishing the geographic scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. The term “waters of the United States” is not defined by the Act but has been defined by EPA and the Army in regulations since the 1970s and jointly implemented in the agencies’ respective programmatic activities.

On July 30, 2021, the agencies announced stakeholder engagement opportunities, including the agencies’ intent to host ten regionally focused roundtables. On October 13, 2021, EPA and Army announced a process for stakeholders to submit nomination letters for a slate of nominees to potentially be selected for one of these geographically focused roundtables. In response to robust interest in these regional roundtables, the agencies extended the deadline for submissions to December 1, 2021.

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