Peninsula Daily News News Sources
CAPE FLATTERY — Based on studies off the North Olympic Peninsula, an environmental group is suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
It wants to have Washington state’s coastal waters listed as impaired because carbon dioxide is making the ocean more acidic.
The Center for Biological Diversity said the EPA has failed to consider how ocean acidification is adversely affecting water quality and marine animals.
The center’s lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, alleges the EPA violated the federal Clean Water Act by not listing Washington ocean waters as impaired, even though the group says research shows carbon dioxide in seawater is threatening marine ecosystems.
“The EPA has a duty under the Clean Water Act to protect our nation’s waters from pollution, and today, C02 is one of the biggest threats to our ocean waters,” said Miyoko Sakashita, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity.
In its complaint, the group cites a study published last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that found marine waters were becoming more acidic and harming certain sea animals.
(See Peninsula Daily News’ Nov. 30, 2008, news story, “Ocean off North Olympic Peninsula 10 times more acidic than thought,” https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008311309992)
Water samples in that report were taken off the North Olympic Peninsula near Tatoosh Island off Cape Flattery, near Neah Bay.
They showed pH levels that violate clean water standards, the group said.
Researchers also observed adverse changes in marine life with calcium-carbonate shells, such as corals and mussels.
Ocean acidification refers to a change in the chemistry of water due to growing amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
As more carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean, it lowers ocean pH, making it more acidic.
The pH value is used to measure a liquid’s acidity or alkalinity.
The EPA says these ocean changes present potential risks to marine ecosystems.
The group wants Washington ocean waters, as far as three miles off the coast, to be designated as impaired when they fail to meet water quality standards.
Enesta Jones, an EPA spokeswoman in Washington D.C., said Thursday the agency will respond after reviewing the complaint.
“We take concerns regarding acidification of ocean and coastal waters very seriously,” Jones said.
“Protection of the nation’s water quality is among EPA’s highest priorities.”
In 2007, the environmental group asked the state Department of Ecology to add
Washington state’s ocean waters to its impaired list because of ocean acidification.
The listing requires a plan to be developed to improve water quality and limit pollutants.
Ecology didn’t do so because it said the group submitted broad research studies but not actual monitoring data required by state law.
The Center for Biological Diversity then asked the EPA to take the action.
In January, the EPA approved the state’s list without including any ocean segments.
It is represented in the lawsuit by the nonprofit Crag Law Center in Portland, Ore.
