Ohio Think Tank Asks Court to Let States Deal with Water Pollution

On Friday, a Columbus, Ohio-based think tank submitted a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court asking justices to allow states to enforce against water pollution, pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). 

The 1972 law set up a permitting system for corporate or infrastructural projects that result in the discharge of pollutant materials into rivers, streams or other bodies of water. Under the act, states may undertake their own permitting programs. But last July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a ruling that South Carolina’s program is not strong enough to supersede the federal permit process and therefore citizen lawsuits can effectively nullify the state program. 

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Ohio Lawmaker Wants to Stop Cities from Dumping Sewage into Waterways

Ohio Rep. Jon Cross

The state has been paying some Ohio farmers for the past two years in an effort to reduce Lake Erie water contamination, and at least one city has spent two decades dumping sewage into the lake with little punishment.

Rep. Jon Cross, R-Kenton, said he wants that to change and has proposed legislation that would ban cities from dumping sewage into Lake Erie and increase fines for violators.

“Instead of blaming northwest Ohio farmers, we should thank them for their work to help reduce Lake Erie algae,” Cross said. “The vast majority of farmers are good stewards of the environment.”

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More Ohio Farmers Will Get Paid to Help Keep Lake Erie Clean

More Ohio farmers can be paid by the state to implement measurers officials say help protect Lake Erie as 10 more counties have been added to the H2Ohio program, which received a $120 million boost in the recently signed state budget.

The program, which offers funding to farmers who use proven conservation practices that limit agricultural phosphorus runoff from fertilizer, now includes 24 northwest Ohio counties. Officials said phosphorus runoff is the primary factor behind algal blooms in Lake Erie.

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Great Lakes Water Levels Rise to Record Highs and Will Stay High Through Summer, Experts Say

After a record-breaking 2019, the US Army Corps of Engineers reported in their April summary that all five Great Lakes will again see a higher-than-average water levels. Lake Erie leads the way in 2020 with levels topping nine inches over last year.

Records show that the Great Lakes are experiencing the highest water levels since 1986. Water levels on the Great Lakes – which are connected by above- and below-ground waterways – are cyclical with periods of low and high water. Each period may last for several years depending on the amount of precipitation, runoff, and evaporation that occurs. 

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Federal Judge Calls Motion to Have Lake Erie Named as Party in Lawsuit ‘Unusual’ and ‘Meritless’

  A federal judge in Ohio has dismissed a motion to name Lake Erie, a body of water, as a party in an ongoing lawsuit, calling the request “unusual” and “meritless.” As The Ohio Star previously reported, Toledo voters overwhelming approved of the controversial Lake Erie Bill of Rights in February, a ballot proposition that extended legal rights of the Ohio Constitution to an inanimate object. In response to its passage, Wood County farmer Mark Drewes filed suit, saying the Lake Erie Bill of Rights “violates federal constitutional rights, including equal protection, freedom of speech, and is unenforceable for its vagueness.” In that lawsuit, a nonprofit called Toledoans for Safe Water sought to have Lake Erie named as a party in the case, but U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary ruled against the motion last week. “This unusual request is meritless. The only source of domestic law cited in the motion supporting the ecosystem’s capacity to intervene is the amendment itself,” he wrote in his ruling, referring to the Lake Erie Bill of Rights. “The amendment, however, does not purport to allow intervention by the ecosystem in federal district courts,” he continued. “Some may believe the law should confer legal standing…

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Experts Say DeWine’s Predicted Revenue Forecast Is Off by $705 Million

An expert analyst suggested that the revenue forecast in Gov. Mike DeWine’s budget proposal is $705 million too high during a testimony before the House Finance Committee Tuesday. According to Legislative Service Commission Director Mark Flanders, DeWine’s General Revenue Fund (GRF) tax revenue forecasts would come up $704.9 million short across the next three fiscal years. “Legislative Budget Office economists forecast somewhat lower baseline GRF tax revenues for the current fiscal year and the next biennium than are forecast for the executive budget,” Flanders said in his testimony. Specifically, Flanders said his economists came up with predictions that are $196.7 million lower than DeWine’s in Fiscal Year 2019, $347.3 million lower in Fiscal Year 2020, and $160.9 million lower in Fiscal Year 2021. “The outlook for state government revenues is greatly influenced by the course of Ohio’s economy and the economy of the nation. U.S. economic expansion was strong through much of last year, but recent economic indicators have been mixed,” Flanders said. But Kim Murnieks, director of the Office of Budget and Management, claimed Tuesday that the forecasts in DeWine’s budget are are “conservatively forecast.” “As we introduce this budget, the state is in strong fiscal condition, about to…

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Toledo Ballot Proposition Would Extend Legal Rights of Constitution to Inanimate Body of Water

Voters in Toledo, Ohio went to the polls Tuesday to decide the fate of a “Lake Erie Bill of Rights” ballot proposition, which would extend the legal rights of the Ohio Constitution to an inanimate object. The referendum is the result of a years-long effort to clean up Lake Erie that begin in 2014 after more than 400,000 Toledo residents were told to stop drinking their tap water. According to Michigan Public Radio, a “bright green mass” called cyanobacteria encircled portions of the lake and produced a toxin known as microcystin, which can cause rashes, liver damage, and vomiting if consumed. If passed, the referendum would likely be struck down in the courts, but its placement on the ballot marks an “unprecedented” development nonetheless, according to University of Toledo law professor Ken Kilbert. “This is pretty unprecedented in the U.S. with respect to providing standing or rights for an inanimate object,” Kilbert told ABC 13. “I think it does have some legal flaws and may well suffer the fate of defeat in the court.” Markie Miller of Toledoans for Safe Water said her group will rework the wording of the document and work to get it replaced on the ballot…

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