Protect America's Waters Updates

Washington, D.C.—Today Congressman Matt Cartwright (Penn.) and Congressman Jared Polis (Colo.) introduced two bills in the U.S. House of Representatives to close loopholes in the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act for fracking operations.

Today, October 18, 2012, marks the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, a landmark environmental law. The Clean Water Act was enacted after years of citizen outrage about massive and persistent water pollution across the country.  Ohio’s Cuyahoga River was so polluted it even repeatedly caught on fire.

Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed one of the most sweeping attacks on Americans’ air and water in recent memory. The passage of the bill (H.R. 3409)—which would do everything from allow more pollution in our waterways, to rollback the recently finalized carbon pollution standards for cars and light trucks—adds to this House of Representatives’ record as the most anti-environment House in the history of Congress.

The House Appropriations Committee passed by a 26-19 vote the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. The bill would slash EPA’s budget by about a fifth for fiscal year 2013, the lowest it has been funded since 1998 and deeply cut funding for other environmental programs including the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program that provides critical resources for protecting national parks, wildlife refuges and local recreation areas.