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VICE-PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES NEW INTERNET SITES FOR BEACH AND FISH ADVISORIES
Release Date: 06/19/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1998
VICE-PRESIDENT GORE ANNOUNCES NEW INTERNET
SITES FOR BEACH AND FISH ADVISORIES
On June 12, Vice-President Gore announced a new public right-to-know initiative, an EPA Internet site for citizens interested in checking the health and environment of their favorite beaches. Through the Internet site, located at: https://www.epa.gov/ost/beaches, citizens can get information on whether their beach is monitored for microbial pollution and on advisories and closings for those beaches. The information is limited to those beaches that have responded to EPA’s survey. The site currently has information on more than 1,000 beaches and continues to expand as responses are received. A similar website has been developed to provide access to state fish advisories, available at: https://www.epa.gov/ost/fish/. EPA also has developed a Beach Action Plan, a five-year strategy to develop stronger, faster and more accurate beach monitoring programs for states. The program will strengthen beach water quality standards, improve public access to information on beach water quality and increase research to address health problems related to swimming. Despite significant progress in protecting our beaches, bays and coastal waters over the past quarter century, the job is not done. Many beaches and coastal areas remain threatened by bacterial contamination from sewage, polluted runoff from farms and city streets and ocean dumping. Each year, thousands of beaches are closed to swimming because of pollution. These initiatives were key action items called for last February when President Clinton launched a new Clean Water Action Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for completing the job of cleaning up our rivers, lakes and coastal waters.
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