Shake It Off & Keep Your Eye on the Ball: Americans Expect Clean Water

"The new Congress could be one of the most hostile to clean water and other environmental concerns, based on the new leadership’s extreme anti-environment records and positions. But that’s not what the American people want, and it’s not what they voted for."  -- Bob Wendelgass, Clean Water Action President and CEO Though some votes are still being counted, the Republican Party has regained a majority in the U.S. Senate, and Sen. Mitch McConnell will be the next Majority Leader. Sen. McConnell has made it clear that the Senate in the 114th Congress will take up measures aimed at reducing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget, stopping EPA from implementing rules needed to protect drinking water for more than 1 in 3 Americans, and preventing action to reduce climate-changing, health-harming pollution from coal-fired power plants. Clean Water Action President and CEO Bob Wendelgass released the following statement: We are disappointed to lose Senator Mark Udall and other clean water allies, but we are very pleased to continue to partner with Senators Cory Booker and Jeanne Shaheen, and excited to work with Senator-Elect Gary Peters. All have proven to be clean water champions in their careers as public servants and their leadership on these issues will be all the more important in the next Congress. Despite big polluters’ unprecedented election spending on dirty water candidates, this election hasn't changed the fact that Americans expect their elected officials to protect clean water and take concrete action on climate change. On behalf of our one million members and the 750,000 Americans who have told EPA they want protections for small streams, wetlands and drinking water sources, Clean Water Action intends to hold all Members of Congress accountable to the people whom they represent – not the polluters. The new Congress could be one of the most hostile to clean water and other environmental concerns. That’s what we fear when we look at the new leadership’s extreme anti-environment records and the anti-environment agenda to which they’ve pledged themselves. But that’s not what the American people want, and it’s not what they voted for. Clean Water Action will be there every step of the way to make sure that the polluters’ agenda is not allowed to prevail, making sure that the concerns for clean water and healthy communities held by ordinary Americans are heard by their elected officials. The opportunity to move an environmental agenda forward still exists despite the new Congressional leadership. We will continue working with the Obama Administration on executive actions to protect our water and address climate change, and look forward to working with our allies in Congress to ensure that these protections are allowed to move forward.