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ORSANCO Public Comment Period On Ohio River Pollution Standards Ends Monday

ohio river
Bill Rinehart
/
WVXU
The Ohio River as seen from the Purple People Bridge.

People concerned with Ohio River pollution have until midnight on Monday to weigh in on proposed standard changes.

The Ohio River Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) extended the comment period by 10 days after stakeholders requested an extension of the public comment period to August 20, says Executive Director Richard Harrison.

"ORSANCO reviews its pollution control standards every three years so our last update was completed in October of 2015," he explains. "Our goal is to have the commission review the update for the October 4 commsion meeting in Lansing, West Virginia." 

Harrison says the proposed changes won't lower the bar but instead bring ORSANCO standards closer to those in the Clean Water Act. 

"It would really be deferring to the Clean Water Act and the role the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) already takes in pollution control standards as well as our state's in our National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System programs."

You can make a comment by sending an email to pcs@orsanco.org by midnight on Monday, August 20.

The ORSANCO commission will make the final decision in October.

Bill Rinehart started his radio career as a disc jockey in 1990. In 1994, he made the jump into journalism and has been reporting and delivering news on the radio ever since.