16. KEY ACTION: EPA will increase enforcement and compliance assistance in those watersheds where sources of
drinking water are contaminated or threatened.
a. Who determines what is "contaminated of threatened"?
b. What agency will do the enforceing? Federal, State, Local, or Stakeholders ?
107. KEY ACTION: By October 1998, EPA will develop guidance to support cooperative efforts to ensure that
compliance assistance and enforcement is used to effectively address noncompliance problems on a priority watershed
basis.
a. Are you on a "priority watershed"?
b. What happens if you are labeled a "noncompliance problem"?
20. KEY ACTION: "..... "relocate and improve water quality protection for over 2,000 miles of roads and trails per year
through 2005; and decommission or obliterate 5,000 miles per year by 2002.
a. What is meant by "relocate"?
b. What agency will decide what improvements are needed?
c. What agency will have enforcement powers and will they set the dollar amount for the fines?
d. How many miles of the 2,000 miles are in Alabama ?
e. Where is a map showing the location of the roads?
f. Of the 5,000 miles per year - how many miles are in Alabama?
g. What happens after the years 2005 and 2002 respectfully?
23. KEY ACTION: The BLM (Bureau of Land Management), the U.S. Forest Service, and other federal land management
agencies will implement an accelerated program to improve or restore 25,000 miles of stream corridor by 2005.
a. What is their definition of "accelerated"?
b. What does "improve" mean"?
c. What does "restore" mean?
37. KEY ACTION: The Corps and EPA, working with other federal, state, tribal, and local agencies, will emphasize
avoidance of wetland losses, deterrence of unpermitted losses, and enforcement of permit conditions to protect wetlands
under Clean Water Act authorities. For unavoidable wetland losses, no overall net loss will be achieved in the regulatory
program through mitigation accountability and by improving the reliability of restoration.
a. "avoidance of wetland losses" If the wetland is on my property will I be able to fill it in?
b. What does "deterrence of unpermited losses" mean?
c. What does the "enforcement of permit conditions to protect wetlands" mean to the farmer?
e. What is "mitigation accountability"?
d. What is "reliability restoration"?
· Farmers in Mobile, Alabama, are learning first hand about "mitigation". If the farmer finds a gopher tortoise on his
property and wishes to move the tortoise from his land the government has provided a safe haven - a 222 acre
"mitigation" bank. The price to the farmer for depositing the tortoise in the bank is $3,500.00 per tortoise. What will
happen to the farmer if he leaves the tortoise on his property is not stated in the article. Source B.A.S.S. TIMES August
2001, page 13 "Banking" for endangered species begins in Alabama.
38. KEY ACTION: The Administration will work with Congress to expand the Wetlands Reserve Program to allow up to
250,000 acres of wetlands each year. In conjunction with other agricultural incentive programs, this initiative will enable
the enrollment of 150,000 acres for wetlands restoration in 2005 and subsequent years.
a. What is Alabama's quota of the 250,000 acres?
b. What happens after 2005?
39. KEY ACTION: By 2005, the Corps will increase by at least 50 percent the wetlands restored and enhanced through
its programs. This includes wetlands restored as part of the President's "Riverine Ecosystem and Flood Hazard
Mitigation" program in the FY 1999 budget and succeeding years.
a. Is this "Key Action" number 39 in addition to "Key Action" number 38?
b. Where in Alabama is the program active? If "not now active", then when will it become active, and under whose
authority?
41. KEY ACTION: By 2005, working with Wetlands and River Corridor Restoration Partners, a group of 30
governmental and non-governmental organizations involved in habitat restoration, EPA will have cooperated on wetland
projects in 500 watersheds.
a. Where are the 500 watersheds located?
b. Who are the "Partners"?
c. How much money is the government granting/giving to these groups?
62. KEY ACTION: By 2002, USDA, working with federal, state, tribal, and private partners, will establish two million
miles of conservation buffers on agricultural lands to prevent pollution and help meet water quality goals. USDA will
review and increase, where appropriate, the incentives available under the Conservation Reserve Program continuous
sign-up, the Environ-mental Quality Incentives Program, the Wetlands Reserve Program, and the Forestry and
Stewardship Incentives Programs to ensure that incentives are adequate to establish two million miles of buffers by 2002.
a. Where are the "two million miles" of buffers?
b. What happens after 2002?
83. KEY ACTION: In the current effort to develop federal policies and actions to strengthen America's communities, the
Interagency Work Group on Sustainable Communities will identify new mechanisms and needed revisions to existing
policy to support locally initiated smart growth efforts that have benefits for water quality.
a. What is "Sustainable Communities"?
b. What is "smart growth"?
 | What recourse do you have? A few suggestion are: contact all of you local governmental representatives - from your
mayor and county commissioner to your state representative and senator. Tell your pastor to alert the people and preach,
in a mighty way, why the Endangered Species Act is ungodly, why the Clean Water Action Plan is unconstitutional and
therefore unlawful and ungodly. Alert your neighbors to the inherent danger in this program. Send these questions to
ADEM, the governor and lieutenant governor and demand an answer. Call ADEM (334) 271-7700 Fax (334) 271-7950)
and find out when your watershed committee is meeting in your area and attend. The State of Alabama has been divided
into 14 watershed basins. Everyone lives in a basin and will be effected by this program. Take copies of these questions
with you and pass them out. |
