Ohio River needs end- to-end protection, common standards

This week, an obscure body is meeting at a remote location to take a vote that could have a profound effect on how clean, safe and natural the Ohio River is in the future. Ohio has three representatives on that panel. In a preliminary vote in June, they favored eliminating a key set of standards for protecting the river.

We think that’s wrong and hope that Gov. John Kasich, who appointed them to the body, will prevail on them before Thursday’s final vote to protect this beleaguered natural resource, not expose it to more stress.

The panel is called the Ohio River Valley Sanitation Commission, or ORSANCO. It was created in 1948 because growing pollution, particularly from wastewater-treatment plants, was threatening the river.

The idea was obvious but seldom employed then: A river flowing through multiple states is best protected by a single set of pollution standards. Since its founding, ORSANCO has set standards for types and amounts of pollution that can be allowed in the river.

Actual rules are set by individual states, which have the power to grant or deny permits to discharge pollutants into the river. The ORSANCO standards provide a strong set of guidelines.

Nothing compels states to match the ORSANCO standards, and not all do to the letter. But if any state strays too far from them, aiming to attract business at the expense of the river we all share, those who object can point to the ORSANCO standards to make their case.

Now, many on the 27-member commission are arguing that the ORSANCO standards aren’t necessary since each state sets its own rules. But eliminating the common template and the moral obligation to abide by it invites states competing for business to lower their standards.

The result could be a devastating race to the bottom, with each state vying to have the easiest permitting standards for polluters.

It also defies logic; Ohio could do a fantastic job protecting the river and still face a polluted stream if Kentucky, on the other shore, lowered its standards. Or vice versa.

Ohio should be a guardian of its namesake river, not a party to allowing more pollution. It is a source of drinking water for 5 million people and remains a significant cargo route. People still paddle and fish in it.

The commission’s vote in June to consider scrapping the standards unleashed more than 1,000 formal public comments, most of which opposed the idea. More than 90 opponents showed up at a publicinput meeting in August.

The commission hasn’t reacted to the opposition, and this week’s final hearing in the unincorporated West Virginia town of Lansing — far from any big city or interstate highway (or the river, for that matter) — doesn’t suggest it is eager to hear more.

One Ohioan on the commission favors keeping the standards: George Elmaraghy, who was ousted by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency in 2013 after a 40-year career there because he argued with bosses who wanted to be more lenient with coal companies. Elmaraghy was appointed in 2014 by President Barack Obama.

Kasich, who has said he wants to position Ohio for a brighter future, should put the long-term health of its primary river ahead of any short-term economic-development edge and encourage his appointees to vote against this destructive proposal.