Rural Community Assistance Partnership

Practical solutions for improving rural communities
front-page-banner-img

EPA

EPA enforcement in 2012 protects communities from harmful pollution

Posted Tue, 2012/12/18 - 3:24pm by RCAP

WASHINGTON (EPA) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released Dec. 17 its annual enforcement results, showing significant environmental and public health protections achieved – a reduction of 2.2 billion pounds of air, water and land pollution, as well as 4.4 billion pounds of hazardous waste, and $252 million in civil and criminal penalties levied – while also focusing on enforcement efforts that reduce smaller amounts of pollution but have substantial health impacts in communities.

ProPublica: Poisoning the well: How the Feds let industry pollute the nation's underground water supply

Posted Wed, 2012/12/12 - 3:09pm by RCAP

by Abrahm Lustgarten ProPublica, Dec. 11, 2012

Federal officials have given energy and mining companies permission to pollute aquifers in more than 1,500 places across the country, releasing toxic material into underground reservoirs that help supply more than half of the nation's drinking water.

In many cases, the Environmental Protection Agency has granted these so-called aquifer exemptions in Western states now stricken by drought and increasingly desperate for water.

New resources and upcoming events for tribal water systems

Posted Fri, 2012/11/30 - 11:07am by RCAP

The Tribal Utility Governance (TUG) program is run by RCAP and its partners - the Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC), the Western RCAP; Community Resource Group (CRG), the Southern RCAP; the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc. (ITCA); and SmallWaterSupply.org.