In 1972, Republicans and Democrats came together to pass the Clean Water Act which protects our lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and bays from pollution and destruction. Forty-nine years later, this landmark law keeps 700 billion pounds of pollutants out of our waters annually, the rate of wetland loss has slowed dramatically, and the number of places that meet clean water goals nationwide has doubled. You can even eat fish from the Cuyahoga River.
But there is still a long way to go to achieve equitable access to drinkable, swimmable, fishable water for all – and time is of the essence. The previous administration left the Clean Water Act the weakest it’s ever been in history, threatening all the progress we’ve made over the past four decades and leaving our waters more vulnerable to the increasingly extreme weather climate change brings.
Now, the Biden Administration has a lot of cleaning up to do to get us back on track.
Restoring Clean Water Act Protections
The most damaging attack on clean water was the Trump administration’s move to withdraw federal pollution protections from more than half our nation’s wetlands and millions of stream miles across the country – including the wetlands and streams that supply drinking water to millions of Americans. These wetlands and streams provide fish and wildlife habitat and absorb floodwaters – as much as one million gallons of water per acre – providing a natural protection made all the more crucial in the face of climate change. This protection is especially important to vulnerable communities that have historically been pushed to more flood prone areas.
The Trump administration’s rule denied federal protections to at least 76 percent of the waters previously considered to date under the rule. The rule is particularly harmful in arid states like New Mexico and Arizona, where nearly every one of over 1,500 streams assessed was found to be not covered by the current rule, because the rule determined they did not flow frequently enough. These streams are the headwaters of our more well-known, iconic waters.
This regulation also cleared the way for a massive mine’s plan to destroy 400 acres of previously protected wetlands, putting Okefenokee Swamp – an internationally recognized wetland – at risk. Additionally, the rule denied protections for roughly 200 acres of wetlands near the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina.
It also removed protections for the most important and threatened waterfowl habitat in North America – the Prairie Pothole Region in the Great Plains. When glaciers retreated over 10,000 years ago, they left millions of shallow depressions known as prairie potholes in their wake that are now valuable seasonal wetlands and home to more than half of North American migratory waterfowl. Today, less than half of the original pothole region remains undrained, in small, disconnected fragments that continue to face threats from drainage, development, and agricultural pollution.
Thankfully, as a result of court cases brought by six Tribes in Arizona and one brought by the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, the Trump rule was struck down in court, but the Biden administration still needs to remove all traces of the harmful rule and move swiftly to develop a more protective rule that helps achieve the foundational goals of the Clean Water Act. These goals are impossible to attain without protecting tributary streams from pollution or protecting the full range of all watersheds’ wetlands from being drained and filled.
To prevent further destruction and continue the progress made since the passage of the Clean Water Act 49 years ago, we need to restore and strengthen Clean Water Act protections – from the smallest headwaters at the top of the watershed, to the mightiest rivers and largest lakes downstream. Clean drinking water, safe recreation and fishing, community resilience to floods and droughts, and healthy habitat for wildlife depend on it.
From removing longstanding pollution protections from over half of the nation’s wetlands and streams to giving polluters like hog farms, factories, and sewage plants a free pass to dump waste into the ground – even if this pollution would make its way into rivers and streams – the past four years threaten all the progress made in over four decades.
The beach and dune restoration project at McFaddin is part of a larger effort to restore and protect the Salt Bayou Watershed – the largest contiguous estuarine marsh complex in Texas, spanning approximately 139,000 acres. It is arguably one of the most important natural defenses that exists along the Texas Coast. Researchers have estimated that 6 to 8 miles of wetlands can reduce storm surge by 3 feet on average.
The Best Kind of Storm Protection
This vast network of coastal wildlife habitats offers storm protection to a highly populated and industrial region of Texas, including the city of Beaumont.
Characterized by freshwater and estuarine marsh, coastal prairies, beaches, tidal flats, and aquatic vegetation, the Salt Bayou Watershed is used by a wide variety of fish and wildlife. It is one of the most important flyways in the world for wintering and migratory birds, and it is primary habitat for resident waterfowl like the mottled duck. Numerous wading and marsh birds can be found here, like roseate spoonbills and king rails.
Many threatened and endangered species also rely on these habitats, such as the loggerhead sea turtle that use the sandy beaches and dunes with unimpeded access to the ocean.
The cost of flooding is rising dramatically and, with that, the cost of protection. Large coastal communities will spend billions of dollars for hardened forms of storm protection over the next few decades to keep up with rising risks.
Natural defenses, such as coastal wetlands, dunes, and barrier islands, are alternative forms of storm protection that can be used alone or in combination with hardened infrastructure to protect communities. Research has shown that they are among the most cost-effective strategies for storm protection, replete with community co-benefits. These benefits, like productive fisheries and improved water quality, can further fortify communities economically, socially, and environmentally against future threats – tipping the cost-benefit scale in their favor.
Coastal communities face tough decisions ahead. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Adaptation to storms and other natural hazards will happen differently based on each community’s needs and values. But in places like the Salt Bayou Watershed, investing in natural defenses can yield year-round returns on investment and provide critical storm protection for a rich array of coastal assets.
The rule undermines protections for these more seasonal wetlands by systematically excluding them from protection. In this rule, the USDA approves the use of old, inaccurately drawn maps that were rejected or discounted for decades due to their inaccuracy. They also allow the use of weather data from a historically dry range of years decades ago, and aerial maps taken at the hottest time of the year. Together, these practices will miss many seasonally flooded wetlands—excluding many seasonal wetlands from Farm Bill wetlands protection and potentially harming habitats for millions of birds.
With well over half of the Northern Great Plains’ “prairie pothole” wetlands already drained, this bad wetlands rule could have devastating effects to the remaining areas in America’s “duck basket,” where the majority of waterfowl nesting occurs and millions of waterbirds stop to feed during migration.
It’s not too late to save this critical wildlife habitat that purifies our water, reduces flooding, recharges aquifers, and provides critical habitat. But we need your help and your voice on this critical issue. Tell the USDA to withdraw the rule that systematically overlooks the presence of seasonal wetlands and the many benefits they provide to local communities and wildlife.
Worst Rollback in Clean Water Act History
The Trump Administration has taken its next step to get rid of the 2015 Clean Water Rule, which restored Clean Water Act protections to wetlands and headwater, rain-fed, and seasonal streams. The worst rollback of Clean Water Act protections since it became law in 1972, the new proposal redefines what waters are federally protected, limiting protections to wetlands with a “continuous surface connection” to larger lakes, streams, or rivers. By the EPA’s own estimate, it would remove protections from 51% of our nation’s wetlands, making it easier to pave over or build on them, and states may no longer be required to clean up polluted wetlands.
The Trump Administration’s proposed rule would also erase protections for ephemeral streams, which flow only after a rainfall or snowmelt, and are particularly common and important in the Western United States. Ephemeral streams are connected to downstream waters, enhancing downstream water quality by absorbing floods and cleaning water. These streams provide important fish habitat by delivering food, nutrients, and spawning gravels downstream and serve as refuge for fish during high water flows.
In their proposal, the EPA also indicated that they are willing to exclude other seasonal waters in the final regulation. Removing protections for all seasonal and rain-dependent streams would mean up to 60% of our nation’s waters could be opened to pollution and development.
We only have 60 days to tell the Trump administration we oppose this unprecedented rollback of Clean Water Act protections that have safeguarded our nation’s waters for more than 45 years.
From frogs to seals, this proposal has serious implications for wildlife that depend on these waters to survive. Learn about five species who could be harmed by the EPA’s rollback of the 2015 Clean Water Rule.
Wood Frog:
Vernal pools are shallow depressional wetlands that appear seasonally in meadows and woodlands and serve as important breeding grounds for amphibians like frogs, because there aren’t any fish to eat their eggs and tadpoles. These unique wetlands are usually not filled with water year-round, filling with water in the winter and spring, and typically dry up by the end of summer.
The wood frog ranges from New England, the Appalachian, and the Great Lake states to as far north as the Arctic Circle. To survive, they possess the surprising ability to freeze! During cold winter months, they cease breathing, their heart stops, and nearly 70% of their body water turns to ice. As ice crystals form beneath their skin, they produce a substance that acts as an anti-freeze, allowing them to stay alive.
As the weather warms in early spring, the frogs thaw out and head to vernal pools to find mates, sometimes even before the ice has fully melted. They’re the first frogs to herald in the spring with strange voices that sound similar to a duck quacking.
Redheads:
The proposed rule would completely remove protections for the most important and threatened waterfowl habitat in North America – the Prairie Pothole Region in the Great Plains, which stretches across Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and three Canadian provinces.
When glaciers retreated over 10,000 years ago, they left millions of shallow depressions known as prairie potholes in their wake. These round depressions fill with water and snowmelt in the spring, creating valuable seasonal wetlands that support rich plant and animal life, particularly for waterfowl. This wetlands habitat is home to more than half of North American migratory waterfowl. Ducks like redheads rely on the prairie potholes for breeding, feeding, and nesting, where they build nests in dense marshes above shallow water.
Today, less than half of the original pothole region remains undrained, in small, disconnected fragments that continue to face threats from drainage, development, and agricultural pollution.
River Otter:
North American river otters are found in streams, wetlands, and other waters across most of the United States, where they feed on fish, crayfish, crabs, and other aquatic wildlife. Once common throughout North America, unregulated hunting and fur trapping until the 20th century, eliminated river otters from many parts of their historic range.
River otter populations have rebounded since the Clean Water Act was passed, but they still face threats from habitat loss and water pollution. Removing federal clean water protections for half of our nation’s wetlands and some streams would further put these otters at risk, because they have a very low tolerance for polluted water and rely on healthy wetland, stream, and lake habitat for food and shelter.
Gila Trout:
The Gila trout is one of the rarest trout species in the United States, found in cold, perennial mountain streams and tributaries in Arizona and New Mexico. Although most of these perennial streams should still be protected under the Trump rule, the Gila Trout depends on the flow of constant, clean water from smaller upstream waters including ephemeral streams.
Ephemeral streams are particularly important where the Gila trout lives in the southwest, which has the highest number of seasonal and rain-dependent streams. In Arizona, where more than 95% of streams are seasonal, the new proposal could have a devastating impact on Gila trout and other fish.
Everglades Snail Kite:
The endangered Everglades Snail Kite is a bird of prey that feeds solely on apple snails, a freshwater mollusk found in Central and South Florida wetlands, including America’s Everglades. The snail kite glides slowly over sawgrass marshes in search of apple snails and has a slender, curved beak that allows it to easily extract the snail from its shell. For most of Florida’s history, the rain-fed “River of Grass” known as the Everglades stretched almost 3 million acres from Orlando, through Lake Okeechobee, and south to Florida Bay.
Now, only a third of this ecosystem remains, largely due to centuries of draining wetlands and polluting waters. The Everglades is already on life support, and implementing the Trump rule would further harm water quality and degrade habitat in the Glades and throughout Florida.
The loss of Florida’s wetlands has harmed populations of the apple snail, which are highly sensitive to changes in water levels, and in turn the Everglades Snail Kite.
Florida, which has more wetlands than any other state except Alaska, has a lot to lose if the Trump proposal becomes final. The Sunshine State just experienced yet another lost summer of toxic blue-green algae and the worst red tide event in more than a decade. Without the slow flow of clean water – the lifeblood of the Everglades ecosystem – Florida’s wildlife, communities, drinking water, and economy will continue to be at risk.
Take Action to Defend Water:
Now is not the time to turn back the clock on federal protections that have safeguarded our waters, wildlife, and economy for more than 45 years. Join us to tell the EPA we oppose this attack on the Clean Water Act.
An Improved Plan for Tackling Climate Change
The final rule has some noted improvements over a proposed rule issued last year. For one, the final rule has a more ambitious target for overall emissions reductions, set at 32% by 2030. Also, the EPA listened to the countless voices who called for more emphasis on renewable energy.
Building on the soaring growth of clean sources of energy like wind and solar, the final rule has incentives and goals that are projected to result in an increase in renewable power generation from 22% to 28%. This is extremely welcome news.
The EPA has also included changes to give states even more latitude in terms of achieving compliance by moving back the compliance date and allowing states more time if they have reliability concerns. But compliance should not be a problem as more than half of states are already on track to meet the proposed rule’s 2020 benchmarks for reducing carbon pollution, with 14 of those states on track to exceed those benchmarks.
We Need to Act to Protect Wildlife
These measures come none too soon. The first five months of 2015 were the hottest on record, on pace to surpass 2014’s record year. A recent study published in the journal Nature finds an increasingly visible link between global warming and extreme weather, with warmer temperatures adding fuel to superstorms like Sandy.
Climate change poses a direct threat to wildlife and communities. If carbon pollution continues unabated, scientists predict that higher temperatures will lead to extinction of 50% of species around the globe.
Here are four species that are cheering about the President’s Clean Power Plan:
Ducks
Climate change will bringer warmer, dryer weather that will significantly reduce the number and quality of these breeding ponds. Without action, like the Clean Power Plan, duck hunters may soon be asking, “Where did all the ducks go?”
Brook Trout
For instance, in Virginia, where brook trout are the official state fish, recent climate modeling suggests brook trout could be gone from the state by mid-century. The Clean Power Plan is a big step in the right direction to ensuring brook trout will keep swimming in our streams.
Moose
Heat is already taking a toll on moose. In addition to heat stress, warming temperatures are allowing parasitic ticks to flourish, and tens of thousands of ticks can attach themselves to moose, literally sucking the life out of them. The results are high fatalities particularly in juvenile moose. In the last 25 years, one of Minnesota’s moose populations has plummeted from 4,000 to fewer than 100. Declines are also being seen in Maine and New Hampshire.
Without action like the Clean Power Plan, it is likely that moose populations will largely be driven out of the lower 48 states.
Loons
While we can choose not to eat fish – a choice we shouldn’t have to make – wildlife can’t. Wildlife, like loons, that survive on fish in our lakes have no choice but to eat contaminated fish. A recent report found that 75% of loons in once pristine Adirondack lakes far from coal plants had mercury levels that posed high to moderate risks.
Mercury is so toxic, that 1/70th of teaspoon to the make the fish in a 25 acre lake unsafe to eat. As the Clean Power Plan powers down mercury spewing coal and powers up renewables, EPA estimates that the Clean Power Plan will remove thousands of pounds of mercury from the environment. That’s good news for both people and loons who like to eat the fish they catch.
What’s Next?
Now it’s up to states to craft implementation plans to ensure the Clean Power Plan’s goals are realized. If states fail to act, the EPA will implement a federal plan on the state’s behalf. However, the plan is designed to make implementation easy for states. As National Wildlife Federation’s President and CEO Collin O’Mara explains:
The President has provided states with the flexibility necessary to achieve meaningful reductions in a way that unleashes American innovation to maximize benefits and strengthen the economy. From the Northeast’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative to California’s carbon trading system, state-based and regional limits on industrial carbon pollution are proven effective at both cutting pollution and creating jobs.
There’s still a lot of work to do. But the President has taken a huge step towards reducing carbon pollution and has set the stage for further national and international action to keep ducks, trout, moose and loons a thriving part of our children’s future.
Urge Congress to stand strong for wildlife and climate action!
As they make plans and consider policies for the coming years, now is a good time for our leaders to discuss the incredible opportunity to build on progress made throughout the region, keep dirty fuels out and build a clean energy future..
It’s meaningful that the conference, which is being held in Bretton Woods this year, is located only a few towns from the Portland-Montreal Pipe Line’s path through New Hampshire, which transports oil from South Portland, Maine, to Montreal. The pipeline—and its potential use for transporting climate disrupting tar sands oil in the opposite direction for export—is a symbol of the crossroads at which the United States and Canada currently stand. Will we continue to lock ourselves into fossil fuel infrastructure for 50, 70, maybe even 100 more years? Or will we say “No” to the dirtiest fuels and continue the move toward clean energy? Our governors and regional premiers have already shown leadership on this question, and they can use this conference to take the next step.
Recognizing the tar sands threat to the Northeast
Tar sands oil has the potential to pollute New England and Canada’s shared water and air, and to negate the hard work our leaders have done to make the Northeast a leader on addressing climate change. Not only does new infrastructure pose the threat of spills from pipelines, tankers and trains, the fact is that without action to keep tar sands out of our gas tanks, tar sands-derived fuels could make up as much as 18% of our regional fuel supply by 2020 (enough to negate the region’s carbon emissions reductions under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative).
The invasion of tar sands oil poses a huge threat to wildlife and habitat throughout the Northeast. Moose, trout, ducks, and so many other species rely on the clean water of our rivers and streams for drinking water and habitat – scores of which would face the threat of pollution under a tar sands spill. Climate change is already having a devastating impact on New Hampshire’s moose population. And at the source, the tar sands industry is decimating pristine forest in Alberta that our most loved migratory birds need for nesting.
Keeping Tar Sands Out of Our Region
There are several steps our leaders can take together to keep New England and Eastern Canada tar sands free:
Take steps to keep high-carbon fuels out of the region’s fuel mix, so we know we aren’t putting tar sands-derived fuel in our gas tanks even while we work to stop it from coming through our pipelines. This piece is already in motion—in 2009, 11 governors stated their commitments to keeping tar sands out of our tanks, and this year both Gov. Peter Shumlin of Vermont and Gov. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire have indicated a willingness to act. Now it’s time to expand this fight to bigger states in the region, especially Massachusetts, whose choices have enormous power to influence the direction of New England’s fuel mix.
Build on efforts in New Hampshire to make sure the state is prepared to respond in case of a spill from existing infrastructure, by making sure communities have funding and tools needed to clean up and protect themselves.
Momentum has been building to keep tar sands out of New England, from a Jurisdictional Opinion in 2013 stating that any proposal to use the Portland-Montreal Pipe Line would be subject to Act 250 review in Vermont, to massive public engagement leading to South Portland taking steps to establish an ordinance that would protect the city from tar sands. However, these local fights must be considered in tandem with fights across the country, such as the battle to stop the controversial Keystone XL pipeline; taken together, they highlight the need for a federal policy that makes President Obama’s climate test the norm, and ensures that major infrastructure choices are only made if they are consistent with efforts to cut carbon pollution.
At the same time, our leaders can act on the enormous opportunity presented by Atlantic offshore wind and other renewable energy sources, and move us to a future that runs on clean energy.
Take Action for Wildlife
Help keep moose in the Northeast safe from tar sands. Tell your governor to say “No” to tar sands.
The recently proposed rule by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ensures the Clean Water Act once again safeguards many — but not all — streams, lakes, and wetlands that had lost protections due to the court decisions.
There’s a great deal of misinformation out there about what the rule actually does and does not do. Attacks against the proposed rule are primarily based on exaggeration and extreme worst-case scenarios, and often have very little grounding in actual fact. Many are just plain false. Politically, these attacks have included a proposed rider to a Senate spending bill, a recently introduced Senate bill, and a charged House hearing on the subject, among others.
Despite what the opposition says, the proposed rule doesn’t protect all waters of the U.S. and doesn’t change the definition of navigability. It does provide exemptions for many farming, timber and other land-use activities, and leaves many important waters at risk to these operations. The proposed rule is a compromise solution that restores protections for some wildlife habitats but also ensures many protections for landowners.
Getting this proposed rule passed and implemented is an important battle for everyone that cares about wildlife and clean water. It’s also vitally important that sportsmen and sportswomen be involved. Rarely have so many sporting organizations come together on a common cause as they are with this one. Back in 2008, Congress had the opportunity to act, but didn’t, and again sportsmen are united to achieve administratively what Congress has been unable or unwilling to do legislatively.
If you’re an angler and/or hunter wondering if your voice matters, you need look no further than this struggle. Know that you do matter and can make a difference, even during these days of political polarization and corporate spending. Sportsmen engagement likely kept the Senate rider from derailing the proposed rule in June. In fact, shortly after the rider was defeated, President Obama, said “I am going to stand with sportsmen and conservationists against members of Congress who want to dismantle the Clean Water Act.”
It’s been decades since there’s been a federal conservation action as significant for trout fishing and duck hunting as the current proposed Clean Water Act rule. These clarifications of an already existing law are currently open for public comment and are already under heavy attack, so now is a critical time to show your support for the habitat ducks, fish, and our outdoor traditions depend on. Take a stand with other sportsmen and conservationists: support the proposed Clean Water Act rule.
A large part of duck-hunting’s appeal is knowing how and when to make just the right call to bring ducks to your position. Calling ducks and geese is an art form. Not exactly orchestral composition, but a skilled art none the less.
Calling is just one of the many reasons duck hunters take to this nation’s marshes, swamps, wetlands, ponds, lakes, and rivers each year. Speak to a duck hunter, and he or she will have as many reasons for why they hunt as they do species they hunt. You’ll likely hear about the camaraderie of hunting together with friends, seeing the family dog retrieve dinner, connecting with the natural environment, and choosing or even building their own decoys. One thing most all of them will talk about is the beauty, majesty and variety of the species they hunt.
“I love duck hunting because of the different species we see,” Weber said. “They are such beautiful creatures with different colors, patterns, and life histories. I really fall hard for the drake wood duck and green-winged teal. When the male green-wings are in full color, they are amazing with colorful spots, streaks, and checkering. If you hold one in your hands, it’s just beautiful.”
Ducks and geese, more than any other wildlife, connects hunters from all over North and South America because of their migratory nature. A duck hunter (or bird watcher) in the southern part of the country may be seeing the same birds that people in the north part of the country are seeing earlier or later, depending on the time of year.
NWF recently released an issue brief on how Alberta, Canada’s “Tar Sands” open pit oil mines are affecting migratory birds. The birds mentioned in the brief as breeding or migrating through the Tar Sands include most of hunters’ most-cherished waterfowl. Tar Sands faces a lot of criticism and opposition from environmentalists, Tribes, and even Nebraska ranchers who don’t want the proposed pipeline run through their property. Duck hunters are another group of folks that should consider joining those ranks.
“For people who care about wildlife and wild places, ducks connect us all,” explained Weber. “My buddy in North Dakota can be hunting the same ducks I will hunt later in the season in Louisiana. They migrate along their flyways every year, covering vast distances and traversing through numerous landscapes and habitat types. They depend on healthy habitat all along the way, from the prairie potholes in Canada, all the way to the coastal marshes of Louisiana, or wherever their wintering grounds may be. I think duck hunters are so passionate about conservation because it ties us all together. You know you have to not only do your part for the duck habitat in your local hunting areas, but also have to be concerned about their progress on the other end of the migratory flyway and all points in between.”
As the report points out, Tar Sands oil operations have already destroyed 256 square miles of natural landscape, with 586 square miles under active development – just one third of the total mineable area of 1,850 square miles. Much of the area has been or is currently being strip-mined, which involves clear-cutting forests and removing all vegetation, soil, and earth above the tar sands layer. Doesn’t take a rocket scientists to figure out that’s not good for ducks, or any other wildlife for that matter.
“The intensive nature of Tar Stands means less habitat,” Weber said. “If you boil it down to its simplest form — we are not talking about some small project here — Tar Sands is terribly destructive for wildlife and wild places. It threatens the outdoor traditions and legacy that hunters and anglers value, whether you’re in Louisiana, Canada or somewhere in between.”
From that subdivision last Friday, the tar sands oil flowed down a storm drain, through a creek, and into a cove just before Lake Conway, a major sportfishing haven. Exxon Mobil crews are making a stand in that cove, hoping to keep the oil from flowing through a culvert under AR-89 and into Lake Conway. But that cove is also where tar sands oil-covered wildlife keep turning up — a fact Exxon Mobil can’t hide.
Community Hit Hard
Here in Mayflower, everyone’s happy to talk about how the spill has impacted them personally — but ask them to go on camera and they clam up. They know Exxon Mobil now has them over a barrel: the tar sands spill has left their homes somewhere on a scale between devalued and worthless, and an Exxon Mobil settlement is their best hope of getting that money back.
Joined by David Carruth, an Arkansas resident and member of the National Wildlife Federation’s board of directors, we walked into the local Hess gas station/bait shop to see if local sport fishermen had any insight into how local wildlife was faring. The man at the counter told us he lives on Starlite Drive, ground zero of the tar sands spill. He’s staying in a Holiday Inn Express in the next town over on Exxon Mobil’s tab while the cleanup continues.
I mentioned that Exxon Mobil and other tar sands transporters haven’t been paying into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, claiming the provisions only cover conventional oil, not tar sands oil. He shook his head sadly. “My father landed on Omaha Beach. Back then, folks had a sense of civic duty.”
Wetlands Coated in Tar Sands Oil
From there, we headed to the cove to get a closer look. A homeowner pulled out her phone and showed us photos she’s taken of oiled birds and a muskrat in her backyard. She said she called state officials to report the oiled wildlife but was told they didn’t have the resources to respond. She then called the HAWK Center, which rescued several ducks. Yesterday — four days after the spill — Exxon Mobil finally set up its own wildlife rehabilitation center with an oiled wildlife hotline (1-800-876-9291) and took over cleaning wildlife from HAWK.
We pushed through the marsh around the edge of the cove, seeing a steady stream of oily spots and finding some tar balls. We then came upon a huge area of oiled marsh with cleanup crews working to remove as much tar sands oil as possible.
Two workers approached David and I thought for sure they’d tell us to scram. But it turned out they were wildlife rescuers asking if we’d seen any oiled wildlife. “I can’t believe how thick this stuff is,” one told David. “It’s like road tar — it’s nothing like motor oil.”
They estimated wildlife rescuers had found about 30 oiled ducks and other birds, a half-dozen oiled venomous snakes, and an oiled muskrat. They’d also spotted an oiled beaver out in the marsh, but said it was impossible to catch.
The sight of the heavily oiled marsh was a tragic reminder that cleaning 100% of this thick, sticky tar sands oil will likely be impossible; the impacts will be felt for months and possibly years to come.
The National Wildlife Federation will continue to monitor the impacts of the Arkansas tar sands oil spill. See more photos on Flickr and keep checking back to Wildlife Promise for updates.
Take Action
It’s time for America to take a stand against tar sands oil – the risks to our wildlife, communities and clean water are just too great. Please take a moment now to ask President Obama to say no to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
It’s unclear exactly how much oil spilled, but as we saw in the early days of BP’s Gulf oil disaster, the number is growing exponentially each day. “Exxon Mobil officials said the total amount of water and oil pumped out of a Mayflower subdivision nearly tripled Sunday, reaching 12,000 barrels, or 504,000 gallons, compared with estimates on Saturday that crews had pumped 4,500 barrels,” reports the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette this morning.
The spill comes just days after a National Wildlife Federation-led coalition called on federal agencies to develop stronger safety standards for pipelines carrying heavy, corrosive tar sands oil. “It’s clear we need tough new standards to protect wildlife, our natural resources and public health,” said Jim Murphy, NWF’s senior counsel. “Until the right standards are put into place, we shouldn’t be exposing more communities and resources to tar sands risks.”
Watch this clip taken by a man who lives in the Mayflower, Ark. neighborhood where the pipeline ruptured:
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Those storm drains head towards Lake Conway, a huge manmade reservoir stocked with bass, catfish, bream and crappie. Local authorities built several earthen dams to try to keep the tar sands oil out of Lake Conway, but if the water is fouled, it won’t just threaten the fish, it will threaten the area’s recreation economy.
As Reuters reports, the Arkansas spill comes at a critical juncture of America’s debate over whether to accept the risks inherent in transporting Canadian tar sands:
The 848-mile pipeline used to transport crude oil from Texas to Illinois. In 2006 Exxon reversed it to move crude from Illinois to Texas in response to growing Canadian oil production and the ability of U.S. Gulf Coast refineries to process heavy crude.
The Arkansas spill drew fast reaction from opponents of the 800,000 [barrel per day] Keystone XL pipeline, which also would carry heavy crude from Canada’s tar sands to the Gulf Coast refining hub.
Environmentalists have expressed concerns about the impact of developing the oil sands and say the crude is more corrosive to pipelines than conventional oil. On Wednesday, a train carrying Canadian crude derailed in Minnesota, spilling 15,000 gallons of oil.
“Whether it’s the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, or … (the) mess in Arkansas, Americans are realizing that transporting large amounts of this corrosive and polluting fuel is a bad deal for American taxpayers and for our environment,” said Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.
It’s not just Keystone XL – there’s also the Enbridge pipeline in Michigan that spilled into the Kalamazoo River in 2010 as well as the proposal to reverse New England’s Trailbreaker pipeline to carry tar sands from Canada to Maine. As NWF reported in 2010, oil disaster’s aren’t rare – they’re tragically common.
The National Wildlife Federation is working with staff, partners and our state affiliate, the Arkansas Wildlife Federation to monitor the impacts of the Arkansas oil spill. Keep checking back to this post and to Wildlife Promise for updates.
Take Action
The risks to our wildlife, communities and clean water are just too great — tell President Obama he should say no to the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
UPDATE: The Helping Arkansas Wild Kritters (HAWK) Center is posting pictures of oiled birds to their Facebook page.
Lauren Ray, a University of the Ozarks student, sent NWF this photo of one of the ducks that was treated at the HAWK Center. According to Lauren, “This duck had already been washed multiple times, yet the oil was still very apparent.”