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U.S. EPA, NOAA CALL FOR REVISION OF STATE PLAN ON COASTAL RUNOFF

Release Date: 1/8/1998
Contact Information: Dave Schmidt, U.S. EPA, (415) 744-1578

     (San Francisco)--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today released a draft document conditioning approval of California's program to reduce polluted runoff in coastal areas on further measures to protect water quality and comply with federal requirements.  

     "Polluted runoff is now the leading cause of coastal water pollution," said Felicia Marcus, U.S. EPA's regional administrator.  "Stopping that pollution is a daunting but critically necessary task.  We support the state's watershed management approach and emphasis on local stewardship, but the program needs a specific roadmap to achieve its goals.  The goal is not just a plan, but a plan that can and will be implemented.  We will work with the State to ensure that this plan results in real progress toward clean coastal waters."

      The State's plan, known as the Coastal Nonpoint Source Program, had been submitted to U.S. EPA and NOAA to comply with the federal Coastal Zone Reauthorization Act Amendments of 1990 (CZARA).  Nonpoint source contamination is polluted runoff from land that affects rivers, lakes, streams, and coastal waters.  CZARA requires states to establish nonpoint source plans to protect and restore coastal waters, addressing pollution from forest practices, agriculture, urban runoff, marinas, and modification of streams, rivers, and wetlands.

     In February 1994, the State initiated a comprehensive review process to consider the requirements of CZARA and update its existing statewide nonpoint source management program rather than create a separate program dealing exclusively with coastal waters.  The State anticipated that a statewide approach would be cost-effective and would eliminate the potential for regulatory inequities which might result from having a separate program for coastal areas.  California's coastal nonpoint program, developed over a two-year period with extensive public participation, describes existing statewide nonpoint programs, and identifies some measures to improve these programs.  However, the coastal nonpoint program does not adequately describe how these measures will be implemented to achieve the necessary environmental improvements.

     U.S. EPA and NOAA have worked with the State Water Resources Control Board and the California Coastal Commission (CCC) to prepare an action plan to revise the State's coastal nonpoint program to address these shortcomings.  All four agencies have agreed that the action plan will strengthen the State's program and meet the CZARA requirements.

     The state has received $5.3 million in federal funding this year for its statewide nonpoint  source program.  A portion of this money is being used to comply with CZARA.

     The public is invited to submit written comments on the proposed plan approval during the 30-day public comment period, which begins on the date of its publication in the Federal Register.    The document is expected to be published on January 9, 1998. Written comments
may be submitted by mail, until February 9, 1998, to:

                        Joseph A. Uravitch
                Coastal Programs Division (N/ORM3)
       Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, NOS
                               NOAA
                      1305 East-West Highway
                     Silver Spring, MD 20910

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