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Safeguarding the Clean Water Act
In mid April, committees in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives held hearings on the Clean Water Restoration Act (H.R. 2421 and S. 1870). This important clean water bill will protect all of America’s rivers, lakes, streams and other waterways from unrestricted pollution and development.
Read our statements on the Senate and House hearings.
What's at stake
Over the last 30 years, we have made significant progress in
cleaning up our water, but we still have important work to do. Many of
America’s great waterways from the Mississippi River to the Chesapeake
Bay to the Great Lakes are struggling from too much pollution.
Instead
of improving the quality of our water, the Bush administration is
weakening water protections. The Bush administration has put in place a
No Protection policy for America’s waters that removes basic Clean
Water Act safeguards from small streams, wetlands and ponds that feed
and clean our great waters. The No Protection policy puts these
streams, wetlands and other waters at risk of unlimited development,
pollution and destruction.
Environment America is calling on
the Bush administration to drop the No Protection policy and for
Congress to restore the original intent of the Clean Water Act to
protect all waters in the U.S.
Additionally, the Supreme
Court’s recent decision in Rapanos has left the extent of existing clean
water protections in question. Absent some corrective action from Congress, the Rapanos
decision could leave some vital wetlands, sensitive streams, and other
water bodies open to unregulated pollution, dredging or fill. Environment America opposes any efforts by powerful developers and other
polluters to weaken the Clean Water Act. We support efforts,
local state and federal to ensure clean and safe water supplies for all
Americans.
