Los Angeles River may get protection through the Clean Water Act

[XemaSab]

The Los Angeles River, the urban waterway often besmirched by graffiti, pollution and Hollywood car chases, has finally gotten a break: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has stepped up as its protector.

In an unusual move, the EPA has told the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that it is stepping into an obscure debate over whether the river and its tributary streams are "traditional navigable waters."


The bureaucratic designation helps determine whether the upper reaches of the river's watershed in the foothills around Los Angeles deserve protection under the federal Clean Water Act.

"It's import for us to protect urban rivers and waterways around the country," said Benjamin H. Grumbles, an EPA assistant administrator for water. "We are stepping up to ensure that the Clean Water Act tools are applied consistently and fairly and we all work together to protect the L.A. River."

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-river19-2008aug19,0,3574743.story

[Wilms]

1. I'm jaw-dropped that the Bush Adminstration's EPA would do anything like this.

I don't want to look the gift horse in the mouth.

Granted, the EPA rep quoted in the story is named Grumbles.