This commentary focused on how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should assess water and ecological quality of coastal waters, including the Great Lakes.  Within the agency's last report (published in 2016), water and ecological health attributes were based on qualitative indicator parameters which were highly speculative concerning application to actual site conditions.

Rob provided this presentation during the 3rd Thermal Ecology and Regulation Workshop, Hosted by the Electric Power Research Institute in 2011.  Rob explained how fish and other aquatic life can tolerate potentially harmful impacts caused by exposure to heated water.  The biological mechanism introduced - the induction of heat-shock proteins by gene changes - was explained to the audience.  Rob concluded that the development of heat-shock proteins is just one of several ways that fish can "beat the heat".

During 2000 – 2003 Rob participated in a workgroup, along with biologists from other sectors, to evaluate methodologies that could be used to provide numerical measures of fish health specific to the Ohio River.  The goal was to develop a standardized index that states located along the river could use to assess the health of fish communities.  Subsequently, the index has been adopted for regulatory (Clean Water Act) purposes.

Rob authored a chapter in the book Biological Assessment and Criteria, published by Lewis Publishers in 1995.  The book contains perspectives on biological water quality criteria (using fish and aquatic bug information) by state, federal, and regulated community biologists.  Rob was supportive of the development of biocriteria, as long as regulatory agencies used credible, representative data and the process was transparent to all stakeholders.    

This study assessed two different methodologies for determining a site-specific water quality standard for a Kentucky stream that received coal ash wastewater.  Laboratory toxicity tests were conducted using nine freshwater species exposed to various levels of copper.  The study indicated that the use of US EPA's "recalculation procedure" was more scientifically defensible to show that existing levels of copper in the wastewater discharge were not causing harm. 

This study, published in the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, evaluated whether fish collected from a polluted stream had compromised backbone properties compared to fish collected from a clean stream.  The study showed that, while fish from the polluted stream had reduced backbone strength, they appeared to show some adaptation to the pollution.