NEWS in brief
Global Highlights lawmakers, Trump called the rule“ one of the worst examples of federal regulation” and said“ it has truly run amok.”
At issue: the definition of“ navigable waters” under the Clean Water Act. Under the 2015 Obama rule, those waters could include, for example, anything within a 100- year floodplain or within 4,000 feet of a high-tide mark.“ A few years ago, the EPA decided that‘ navigable waters’ can mean nearly every puddle or every ditch on a farmer’ s land, or anyplace else that they decide— right? It was a massive power grab,” Trump said.
Trump’ s plan of attack is similar to his earlier order aimed at a consumer-protection regulation called the Fiduciary Duty rule. Because the rule was finalized in 2015, the Trump administration will have to start the regulatory process from the beginning to remove it from the books. The executive order instructs the Environmental Protection Agency and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to do just that, asking them to reconsider whether federal jurisdiction extends to non-navigable streams.
But unlike the Fiduciary Duty Rule, which was scheduled to go into effect April 10, the Waters of the United States rule has already been blocked by a federal appeals court in Cincinnati. The executive order also asks the Justice Department to put that appeal on hold while the administration reconsiders the rule.
And it gives direct advice to agencies about how Trump would like to see the term“ navigable waters” defined. In a 2005 Supreme Court decision, Justice Antonin Scalia defines them“ only those relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water forming geographic features that are described in ordinary parlance as streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes.”
UN: $ 4.4bn needed to prevent‘ catastrophe’ of famine
UN chief Antonio Guterres says more than 20 million people face starvation in South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen
The United Nations needs $ 4.4bn by the end of March 2017 to prevent“ a catastrophe” of hunger and famine in South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen, according to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
More than 20 million people face starvation in the four countries and action is needed now to avert a humanitarian disaster, Guterres told a news conference at UN headquarters on Wednesday the 22 February.
“ We need $ 4.4 billion by the end of March to avert a catastrophe,” he said.
So far, the UN has raised just $ 90m. South Sudan on Monday declared a famine in northern Unity State while Fews Net, the famine early warning system, has said that some remote areas of northeast Nigeria are already affected by starvation since late last year.
The four famine alerts are unprecedented in recent decades.
There has only been one famine since 2000, in Somalia. At least 260,000 people died in that disaster- half of them children under the age of five, according to the UN World Food Programme.
The UN children’ s agency UNICEF this week said almost 1.4 million children acutely malnourished in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen could die from famine in the coming months.
Of the four famine alerts, only one- Somalia- is caused by drought, while the other three are the result of conflicts, also described as“ man-made food crises”.
“ The situation is dire,” said Guterres.
“ Millions of people are barely surviving in the space between malnutrition and death, vulnerable to diseases and outbreaks, forced to kill their animals for food and eat the grain they saved for next year’ s seeds.”
The appeal for international action came as humanitarian aid groups are already struggling to meet needs in Syria and cope with the global refugee crisis.
Uranium Contaminates Montana Water System By Sara Jerome
A water system in Montana that has been plagued with chronic water problems recently warned residents about uranium contamination.“ The town of
Image credit:“ 35 / 365,” Krystian Olszanski © 2010
Whitehall has had problems with its water for close to a year. Last year it was E. coli contamination, now it’ s too much uranium. Officials sent several notices to residents about the water being contaminated,” NBC Montana reported.
“ This is the fourth time Whitehall has gotten dinged by the [ state ] for having uranium rates over the drinking water limit in its water supply. The problem began in early fall 2015,” the Independent Record reported.
In a notice sent to residents in December, the town said ratepayers need not rely on an alternative drinking water
Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • March- April 2017 9