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Clean Water Requires Clean Water Restoration Act
August 24, 2009 | Small Streams & Wetlands
Katherine Baer
Senior Director, Clean Water Program
Clean Water depends upon the protection of the small streams and wetlands that flow into our big rivers (another way of saying – water flows downhill!). Protecting small streams and wetlands in turn requires a Clean Water Act that works the way it did for 30 years, by safeguarding our small streams and big rivers, until two confusing Supreme Court cases (SWANCC and Rapanos) confused the issue. This has resulted in the loss of protections for many streams, a decline in environmental enforcement and caused delays in permitting.
Passing the Clean Water Restoration Act would fix all this – the bill (S.787) restores the scope of the Clean Water Act while specifically maintaining the regulatory exemptions for agriculture that industry has been demanding. In the National Journal blog, Arkansas Fish and Game Commissioner George Dunklin writes in support of the Clean Water Restoration Act:
“As a rice producer, clean water is my livelihood – it is the lifeblood for the rice I grow and the heart of the Delta where I live. The wetlands and streams that recharge underground aquifers and help ensure our clean water resources have lost federal protection from pollution and destruction. Restoring protection to our nation’s water supplies will ensure that farmers like me can continue to put food on America’s tables. The Baucus-Klobuchar bill that passed the Senate EPW Committee will restore those protections.”
Contact your Representative and tell them to support this important legislation.
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Comments List
Submitted by Gerry at: March 14, 2010
We need a strong clean water act, for all watersheds!
Submitted by Dan at: March 3, 2010
On March 1st the New York Times published a compelling article describing how the SWANCC and Rapanos Supreme Court decisions are hampering the ability of federal regulators to protect our nation's waters from pollution. Since 2001, Clean Water Act violations have risen while EPA enforcement has declined. According to this article, EPA regulators estimate that 1,500 major pollution cases have been halted in the last four years alone. Even more alarming, internal studies conducted by midlevel EPA officials indicate that as many as 45% of major polluters are now beyond regulatory reach. water damage
Submitted by tmullins at: August 24, 2009
My representatives endorse more pollution and toxins in our water. http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=138