More than two months ago President Obama nominated Gina McCarthy, a
dedicated public servant with nearly three decades of experience, to be
EPA Administrator. We’re still waiting for the Senate to confirm her.
You can make sure she gets a vote, and that your Senators vote YES, by
telling your Senators “I stand with Gina!” Click here to tell your Senators!
Washington, DC: Clean Water Action joined dozens of groups to urge President Obama to protect our water from pollution from power plants. The groups are urging the release of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed “Steam Electric Power Generating Category Effluent Limitation Guidelines” for public comment by the court-ordered deadline of April 19th.
“Coal fired power plants are the largest water polluters in the U.S. They account for nearly three quarters of toxic water pollution,” said Robert Wendelgass, Clean Water Action President and CEO. “The amount of toxic pollution, which includes arsenic, mercury, cadmium and selenium, which are all harmful to humans and aquatic life – are incredible and must be drastically reduced.”
post by Christine LeMieux, Global Warming and Energy Programs Coordinator
While media headlines as of late are dominated by the latest healthcare happenings on the Hill, progress on climate and energy legislation continues. Both issues are related to critical questions about how we will take care of our public health and our economy in the coming decades. Over the past month, 6 Senate committees have held hearings and action is expected after Congress returns from recess in September.
Today the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted to send Gina McCarthy’s nomination to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the full Senate for confirmation. Clean Water Action congratulates Chairwoman Boxer and the committee and urges the Senate to confirm Ms. McCarthy as soon as possible.
Clean Water Action President & CEO released this statement:
Washington, DC – Saying that it was time for the Senate to let the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “get to work,” Clean Water Action called on Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and his GOP colleagues to “show up and vote” and allow Gina McCarthy’s nomination process to move forward. Last week, claiming that Ms. McCarthy hadn’t sufficiently answered the nearly 1100 questions submitted to her, Senator Vitter led a boycott of a scheduled committee vote, denying quorum, and preventing the process from moving forward.
“The Republican boycott of Gina McCarthy is absolutely unacceptable to the American people. It shows Senator David Vitter and his GOP colleagues on the committee are more interested in scoring ideological points than governing. Gina McCarthy is known as a common-sense policy expert and an effective manager and she has worked under both Republican and Democratic Governors. Her work at EPA over the last several years demonstrates extraordinary stakeholder engagement and transparency. She deserves a vote. And Americans deserve better from their elected officials."
Single-use disposables, single use take-away food and beverage containers, plastic shopping bags, plastic “silverware,” plastic produce bags, colored plastic beer and soda cups, plastic clothing bags, foam coffee cups, plastic shoe bags, plastics bags for carrying your plastic bags home from the store. Over-packaged everything.
Coal ash is the toxic byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity. Coal ash is also the largest unregulated waste stream in the U.S.
Even though it contains arsenic, mercury, lead, selenium and other toxic ingredients, no federal regulations exist to protect people and environment from this waste. These substances are all harmful to human health.