The Ohio River Basin is an environmentally rich region under threat.
This summer, the Ohio River Basin Alliance, National Wildlife Federation and University of Louisville’s Envirome Institute unveiled a plan that proposes big, regional solutions.
The first public draft of the Ohio River Basin Restoration and Protection Plan, released in June, was developed with input from scientific experts, government and community groups and residents. A final version of the plan is in the works.
I talked with Jordan Lubetkin, the NWF’s senior director for Ohio River restoration, about the plan and the groups’ goals. Lubetkin will join me and others for a community event hosted by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting this week on Wednesday, celebrating the Ohio River and digging into this plan to protect it.
Here’s our conversation.
This transcript is edited for length and clarity
WATKINS: The National Wildlife Federation is one of the three lead authors of a new plan to restore and protect the environment of the Ohio River Basin. What’s the big vision here?
LUBETKIN: We want to provide clean, safe and affordable drinking water to all the 30 million people who call this region home. We want to have abundant, flourishing wildlife.
The goal is for this region to really accelerate progress in tackling some environmental challenges that we see – from toxic pollution, sewage contamination, legacy mining impacts.
So we're really excited about the plan. It can help the economy. It can help the environment. It can help public health. It can help communities large and small.
WATKINS: This report doesn’t just focus on the main Ohio River. It’s envisioning a future for the entire river basin. Can you tell me a bit about what the basin encompasses, and why this plan looks on the whole of that land, rather than just the river itself?
LUBETKIN: This is a tremendously vast region [and] a tremendously diverse region. It includes portions of 14 states, from Northern Alabama to Southern New York. It includes, of course, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and over 40 [Native American] tribes that have ancestral ties to the region.
It also is one of the most biodiverse regions – not just in the country, but the entire world. So this river is connected, from the mainstem of the Ohio to the wetlands, the streams and the tributaries that feed it.
But unfortunately, a lot of those rivers and streams don't meet water quality standards. While we've made great progress from the ‘60s and ‘70s – from passage of the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, [and] other landmark environmental laws – we still know communities in both rural and urban areas face threats.
This region is vast and it also needs attention.
WATKINS: Reading through this report, two broad goals that jumped out were: Pushing for regional collaboration and for long-term, sustained federal funding for environmental efforts in the Ohio River Basin. Why focus on those themes?
LUBETKIN: Rivers and streams don't know political boundaries. They don't know state boundaries. This is all one region, and we need to treat it holistically.
We know that a lot of great work is being done on the state level, on the tribal level, on the local level. And what we're saying is: Look, we need to be doing more, and we can do more with the assistance, collaboration and the coordination of the federal government that has the power to convene, the power to monitor, and most importantly, power to fund.
Every year the federal government looks at all the wonderful sort of ecosystems and water bodies we have in this country, from the Great Lakes to the Chesapeake, the Everglades, the Gulf Coast. And it says, ‘Hey, these water bodies are important. We know there are problems, and we're [going] to bring the power and the resources of the federal government to address these problems.’
Unfortunately, there's no such program for the Ohio River Basin. And so we think with additional resources, we can really see quantum leaps forward in addressing things like drinking water contamination.
WATKINS: You’re putting together a final version of this restoration plan. What comes next?
LUBETKIN: The initial report received almost 1,000 public comments from individuals, state agencies, organizations. And so we're in the process of reconciling that. When it's done, we'll be delivering it to Congress. And the next step is to say, ‘Hey, here's a case statement for what we need to happen in this region.’
And the good news there is that we have bipartisan support for this kind of initiative. We have Louisville's own [U.S. Rep.] Morgan McGarvey, who is a co-chair of the Ohio River Congressional Caucus with [U.S. Rep.] Erin Houchin, Republican of Indiana. And the next step is really to say, ‘Hey, Congress, let's pay attention.’
Let's elevate these issues so it's a national priority. Let’s get a federal coordinating body to get the work done. And let's put this as an annual investment in the federal budget to make sure we can accelerate progress on these issues.
