Our Water Has Waited Too Long

By Michael Kelly, Director of Communications - follow Michael on Twitter - @MichaelEdKelly The Clean Water Act became law in 1972. Since then industry and their allies in Congress have attempted to weaken the landmark law – asking Americans to put their bottom line ahead of protecting our water. In the mid-2000’s, industry got its wish when the Bush administration effectively broke the Clean Water Act and removed protections from nearly 20 million acres of wetlands and more than half the nation’s streams. The Bush administration’s actions put the drinking water for more than 1 in 3 Americans at risk and opened the door for the degradation of wetlands which protect communities from flooding and provide habitat for hundreds of plants and animals. 8 million Pennsylvanians rely on drinking water sources that depend on small streams that have lost federal Clean Water Act protections. Clean Water Action, our members, and allies across the country have been trying to put the Clean Water Act back together ever since. This spring, thanks to the Obama administration, we finally took a huge step in the right direction. In March, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) released a draft rule to protect clean water. The agencies ‘proposal closes many of the polluter loopholes put in place by the Bush administration and makes the Clean Water Act work the way Congress originally intended. The proposal recognizes that our water is connected and aligns our landmark law with the way that water works in the real world – what happens upstream affects everything else downstream. This commonsense proposal already enjoys wide public support – polls consistently show that Americans want to protect clean water. Previous efforts have garnered hundreds of thousands of positive public comments. But it won’t be an easy road. The same interests – industrial agriculture, big oil, and the coal industry – who have been fighting the Clean Water Act for more than 40 years are doing everything possible to keep this proposal from being finalized and they are getting a big assist from some members of Congress. One of those members of Congress is Representative Bill Shuster. Representative Shuster, Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a field hearing in Altoona on April 28^th to examine the “Federal Regulation of Waters: Impacts of Administration Overreach on Local Economies and Job Creation”. Unfortunately for the Congressman, nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, this proposal would protect slightly fewer wetlands and other waters than during the Regan administration. If Representative Shuster is truly concerned about our economy, than he should support the Obama administration’s proposal. It will create jobs and help the clean tech, recreation industry, craft brewers, and numerous other businesses produce more than $514 million in benefits and economic activity. In Pennsylvania, an estimated 4.7 million people participate in hunting, fishing or birding activities annually, spending $5.4 billion in our state in 2006 alone. This proposal is vital to the health of our streams, wetlands, and local economies. It’s time to protect our water. Clean Water Action and our members are making sure that the Obama administration hears loud and clear that the public supports this action for clean water. I hope you’ll join us - click here.