Celebrating Earth Day by Remembering a Burning River

In June of 1969, a floating oil slick in the surface of the Cuyahoga River caught fire. That fire burned for only half an hour but reached heights of up to five-stories.  It was ignited by sparks from a passing train. But this was not the first time the Cuyahoga caught fire.  It had happened thirteen times before.Photo of the 1952 Cuyahoga fire, from savingtheplaces.comThough this was not the largest fire on the beleaguered Cuyahoga, no single event there or anywhere did more than the fire of 1969 to stimulate action. Indeed, it led, by fits and starts, to Congress’ passage of the Clean Water Act in October 1972, overriding President Richard Nixon’s vetoes on votes of 52-12 in the Senate and 247-23 in the House. The nation finally deemed the fact that our water was so polluted that it could be flammable enough to burn. A national solution with real teeth was required.This need for protection of public waters was as desperate here in the State of Oregon as anywhere.  Our rivers might not have caught fire, but many, to include the Willamette River, were not safe for human contact much less consumption.Up until passage of the Act, fish kills were common in American waters.  Over 41 million fish were killed by pollution in 1969 alone.  The single largest fish kill (26 million fish) occurred that year in Lake Thonotosassa, Florida. Two-thirds of the U.S. lakes, rivers and coastal waters had become unsafe for swimming or fishing prior to passage of the Clean Water Act.Now, nearly 50 years later, much of the promise of the Clean Water Act remains before us.  Our rivers, lakes and coastal water ways, despite improvements that the Clean Water Act secured, are still exploited regularly by polluters.DRA’s own lawsuit to enforce the Clean Water Act against Portland General Electric (PGE) and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation (CTWS) clearly bears testament to the need for strong enforcement.But absent the right of citizens to enforce, water quality standards and limitations intended to protect the lower Deschutes River and other ecological gems will be left to the discretion of vested interests and often-captured federal and state agencies.Thus, in its late 2018 filing before the federal district court, PGE expressly appealed Judge Simon’s decision that upheld the right of DRA and other citizens to enforce terms and conditions of the state-issued CWA Section 401 water quality certification for the PRB Project. If PGE succeeds, a number of rivers and waterbodies of national interest will be dealt a mortal blow. We aim to stop them in their tracks.Accordingly, on this Earth Day, please join us in celebrating the great accomplishments of the Clean Water Act. And please support us in defending everyone’s right to clean water in the lower Deschutes River and throughout the Deschutes Basin.Sources:

1. “The Clean Water Act: 39 Years of Success in Peril,” Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, October 2002; “Clean Water Act: Fast Facts” from Environmental Media Services.
2. Ellen Simon, Waterkeepers, The Bipartisan Beginnings of the Clean Water Act (Jan. 30, 2019) at https://waterkeeper.org/news/bipartisan-beginnings-of-clean-water-act/.