CUYAHOGA RIVER RAP STAFF PARTICIPATING IN OEPA STREAM MITIGATION AND WETLAND RULES WORKGROUPS

Marie Sullivan and Charles Hambly of the RAP staff are participating in two workgroups that are reviewing comments received by Ohio EPA on draft rule changes that would improve wetland mitigation procedures and add new guidelines to evaluate streams for mitigation.

The draft rules are available on the Ohio EPA website at: http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/rules/draft_401wetland_feb06.html

These rules have been reviewed pursuant to section 119.032 of the Ohio Revised Code. Ohio EPA is required to review its rules every five years to determine if the rules need revisited. After considering comments and making changes, if necessary, to the rules, a public hearing and another public comment period will be scheduled.

The draft rules are designed to:

1. improve the quality of and

ability to evaluate mitigated

wetlands and streams;

2. ensure greater clarity and

predictability regarding Ohio

EPA’s requirements;

3. make the project review

process more efficient,

saving time; and

4. bring Ohio’s rules in line with

current scientific knowledge.

Wetland in the Cuyahoga River watershed

The federal Clean Water Act requires anyone discharging dredged or fill material into Ohio waters to obtain a water quality certification from Ohio EPA and a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Ohio EPA’s review is to ensure the project will comply with Ohio’s water quality standards. As a condition of approval, all wetland or stream impacts need to be compensated by restoring, creating, enhancing or preserving other wetland or stream areas.

Charles is a member of the Stream Mitigation Rule Workgroup and Marie is on the Wetland Rule Workgroup. The workgroups have met at least once and are scheduled to meet on a regular basis throughout 2007.

You can review the information about the workgroups agendas and meeting schedules at: http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/401/Rules_%20Workgroups.html

Please contact Marie at 216-241-2414 ext. 275 or Charles at ext 253 if you have any questions or comments regarding their important work.

New Cuyahoga River RAP Website Up and Running……

A new web home for the CRCPO, Cuyahoga River RAP and AHR is now up and running. It will serve as the communications hub for the Cuyahoga River Watershed and AOC.

Information is still moving in and getting settled, so not every “room” is inhabited quite yet. Eventually, the RAP online home will be filled with a wealth of information, resources, links and updates, designed to serve our delisting goals and support restoration and protection throughout the Cuyahoga and its tributary watersheds.

In the meantime, you are invited to visit the new site at...

http://www.crcpo.org

The old site at www.cuyahogariverrap.org is still active, and once everything is transferred you will automatically be redirected to the new address.

The RAP staff email addresses will stay the same…… lastnamefirstinitial@cuyahogariverrap.org... until further notice.

Highlights of note:

- the new site is Mac-user-friendly (the old one was not);

- you can now pay dues and make donations online!

The RAP staff welcomes your comments and suggestions. Please let them know how the site can serve you!

Send a message to Jane Goodman at

goodmanj@cuyahogariverrap.org

New OEPA Water Quality Trading Rules Adopted

The Agency has adopted new rules addressing water quality trading. The Ohio water quality trading rules are in follow-up to the Water Quality Trading Policy, issued by U.S. EPA’s Office of Water in January 2003. This document can be found at the following Web link:

www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/trading/tradingpolicy.html .

The purpose of this policy is to encourage states to develop and implement water quality trading programs for nutrients, sediments and other pollutants where opportunities exist to achieve water quality improvements at reduced costs. The intent of the new rules is to:

1. Achieve water quality improvements more quickly than would otherwise be possible;

2. Lead to a more cost effective way to achieve water quality standards in Ohio’s waters;

3. Provide economic incentives for reductions in nonpoint source pollution, which is a major cause of water quality impairment in Ohio; and

4. Provide other environmental benefits like restoring natural flow patterns, improving aquatic habitat, increasing the ability of streams to process certain pollutants, and creating stream buffers, shading and other benefits that go beyond just reducing pollutants.

For more background on Ohio's water quality trading program, go to the OEPA website at:

http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/WQ_trading/index.html

WORKSHOPS OFFERED ON BEST LOCAL LAND USE PRACTICES

Ohio Lake Erie Commission Aims to Protect Lake Erie and Tributaries

The Ohio Lake Erie Commission will offer four opportunities in

January for local government officials, planners, architects, engineers and others to learn about a series of voluntary best practices for managing local land use to support both economic development and protection of the Lake Erie watershed.

The half-day workshops will provide an overview of the Commission's Balanced

Growth program and will deal specifically with storm water regulations, development options such as conservation development, and regulations that protect natural resources such as wetlands, meadows and woodlands.

Participants can choose from three morning or one afternoon session. The morning workshops will be held from 8:00 am to 12:30 pm at the Lorain County

Community College on January 10, the Holiday Inn French Quarter in Perrysburg on January 17, and in the Erie County Building in Sandusky on

January 31.

The one afternoon workshop will be from 12:30 pm to 5:00 pm on January 25 in the Governance Room at Kent State University.

The workshops are free, but participants are asked to register at least one week in advance by calling the Lake Erie Commission at 419-245-2514, or by emailing lakeeriecommission@ameritech.net.

Additional information is available at

http://www.epa.state.oh.us/oleo/bg1/index.html

or contact Chris Riddle at the Commission at 419-245-2514

OEPA Issues Home Sewage Treatment System (HSTS) General Permit

Ohio EPA has issued a general permit for household sewage treatment system discharges that will allow local health departments to work directly with homeowners to evaluate and assist them in obtaining all necessary permits to install and operate the systems.

Local health departments will perform all site inspections, recommend the type of system that can be installed and determine if coverage by the new general permit is needed. If the local health department determines that a discharge is necessary, the local health department will inform homeowners of the process to follow to obtain permit coverage from Ohio EPA.

Local health departments will be required to sign a memorandum of understanding with Ohio EPA giving them authority to consider and approve the installation of discharging household sewage treatment systems. The permit coordinates with the Ohio Department of Health’s (ODH) new home sewage treatment system rules that go into effect on January 1, 2007. The ODH rules were developed according to the requirements of House Bill 231.

All household sewage discharges to waters of the state require a discharge permit. The new ODH rules allow the use of a discharge system only if the use of a non-discharging on-site system is not possible.

The new general permit covers systems serving one-, two- or three-family residential dwellings. The permit applies to discharging systems that are necessary for limited new construction or for existing systems that have failed and need to be replaced, only if the installation and operation of a non-discharging on-site system is not possible.

New discharges will not be permitted to streams or rivers designated as superior high quality waters, outstanding state waters, or outstanding national resource waters, or as discharges to storm sewers, roadside ditches, agricultural ditches or other manmade drainage systems. Ohio EPA recommends that new discharges from household sewage treatment systems only be allowed to go into streams with a continual flow of water and a minimum watershed drainage area of five square miles.

Ohio EPA is considering the development of a second general permit that will be used to provide coverage to select existing dischargers.

Copies of the general permit applications and memorandum of understanding are available on the Web at http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/permits/gpfact.html , or by calling Mark Stump in Ohio EPA=s Division of Surface Water at (614) 644-2028.

Finalized permits can be appealed to the Environmental Review Appeals Commission (ERAC). Appeals must be filed by January 31, 2007. Ohio EPA recommends that anyone wishing to file an appeal contact ERAC at (614) 466-8950 for more information.

INVADER ALERT!!!

EAB IS HERE!!!!

The Emerald Ash Borer, a very small but destructive exotic beetle from Asia was discovered in July 2002 feeding on ash trees in southeastern Michigan. Metallic green in color, its slender body measures 1/2 inch in length and 1/8 wide. The average adult beetle can easily fit on a penny.

Larvae feed in the cambium between the bark and wood, producing galleries that eventually girdle and kill branches and entire trees. Evidence suggests that the Emerald Ash Borer has been established in Michigan for at least six to ten years. More than 3,000 square miles in southeastern Michigan are infested and more than 6 million ash trees are dead or dying from this pest.

An estimated 8 to 10 million ash trees (white, green, blue, black and pumpkin) have been killed and or removed as part of the ongoing infestation and eradication efforts. It has been detected in the now quarantined counties of Paulding, Defiance, Lucas, Wood, Henry and Fulton in Ohio (Franklin County has been declared EAB free just recently). Toledo Metroparks has begun removing 20,000 to 30,000 ash trees as a cooperative effort with Ohio Department of Agriculture due to an EAB infestation in their Oak Openings Park.

Don't move firewood! People unknowingly contribute to the spread of EAB when they move firewood. EAB larvae can survive hidden under the bark of firewood. Play it safe: don't move any firewood and you won't move any beetles. Cuyahoga County is under quarantine for moving firewood. Cleveland Metroparks has issued a firewood alert – not allowing any firewood to be moved into or through the parks.

For more information go to http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/pest_al/eab/eab.pdf

Upcoming Meetings

Several meetings and events that may be of interest include:

• Chippewa Creek Watershed Planning Partnership Meeting – January 24 at 1:30pm at Brecksville City Hall. Contact Jim White at 216-241-2414 ext 307 for details.

• Local Land Use Workshop – January 25 at 12:30 pm at Kent State University. Workshop will be held in the Governance Room in the Student Center. Register at least one week in advance by calling the Lake Erie Commission at 419-245-2514, or by emailing lakeeriecommission@ameritech.net . Additional information is available at:

http://www.epa.state.oh.us/oleo/bg1/index.html

or contact Chris Riddle at the Commission at 419-245-2514

• Clean Water Conference – February 2-3 at Mohican State Park Resort Conference Center. Sponsored by the Ohio Environmental Council. Topics include Riverine Phosphorus levels, Phosphorus trading rules, Ohio EPA Urban wetland study, Great Lakes Restoration, Vernal Pool Training and Monitoring, Clean Water Act and Watershed Planning, Fundraising for Grassroots, Ditches and the Law

...and more!

To view a brochure, go to:

http://www.theoec.org/PDFs/water/0207CWA.pdf

• Cuyahoga River RAP Coordinating Committee – February 8 at 5:00pm. Contact Jim White at 216-241-2414 ext 307 for details

• 50th Annual IAGLR Conference on Great Lakes Research - May 28 - June 1 University Park, Pennsylvania. The conference will recognize the history of research on the Great Lakes and our present state of knowledge, as well as take a look into the future of how the organization can address the complex limnological and management issues that lay ahead. Contact: Hunter Carrick Phone: 814-865-9219 E-mail: 07chair@iaglr.org

• 2007 IJC Great Lakes Conference and Biennial Meeting - June 6-8 Chicago, Illinois The theme of this year's meeting will be "Sustainable Cities in Healthy Watersheds” and will focus on positive actions that urban areas can take to enhance their future growth with minimal harm to the environment. Contact: Bruce Brown Phone: 519-257-6733 E-mail: BrownB@windsor.ijc.org

OEPA CENTRAL OFFICE ADDRESS CHANGE

Ohio EPA’s Central Office has a new street entrance and address as part of the building renovation. The new street address is:

Ohio EPA

Lazarus Government Center

50 West Town Street, Suite 700

Columbus, Ohio 43215

The main Agency mailing address is:

Ohio EPA

Lazarus Government Center

50 West Town Street, Suite 700

P.O. Box 1049

Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049

If you have any items or meeting notices for the next RAP-Up newsletter – please contact me at 330-963-1117 or email at kelvin.rogers@epa.state.oh.us