New Report: Across America, Waters in Crisis
Tuesday, April 14, 2009(National Wildlife Federation)
How the Supreme Court Has Broken the
Clean Water Act and Why Congress Must Fix
It
How
the
Supreme Court Has Broken the Clean Water Act
and Why Congress Must Fix
It
Washington (April 14)
– For
decades, the Clean Water Act has broadly
protected America’s lakes, rivers,
streams, and drinking water sources from
unregulated pollution and destruction,
rescuing them from the dire straits they were
in during the late 1960s and early
1970s. But because of a concerted effort by
polluters and developers, and
muddied rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court, up
to 60 percent (at least 15,000
important waters) have lost these vital
protections and countless other waters
(including more than 50 percent of our streams
and 20 million acres of wetlands)
are at risk of losing protections.
Today, Clean Water Action, Earthjustice,
Environment
America, National Wildlife Federation, Natural
Resources Defense Council, Sierra
Club and Southern Environmental Law Center are
releasing a new report entitled
“Courting Disaster: How the Supreme
Court
Has Broken the Clean Water Act and Why Congress
Must Fix It,” which details
the threats to America’s waters and highlights
the urgent need for Congress to
act immediately and restore full Clean Water
Act protections to our waters.
Supreme Court decisions in
2001 and 2006, and subsequent agency policies
by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and the Army Corps of
Engineers put in place in 2003 and 2007,
shattered the fundamental framework of the
Clean Water Act. Today, many
important waters – large and small – are being
stripped of critical protections
against pollution and destruction. These waters
not only serve as valuable
wildlife habitat, store flood water, return
water to aquifers, and filter
pollutants, but they also provide some or all
of the supply for drinking water
systems serving roughly 111 million Americans.
The floodgates are now open for
polluters to use the chaotic legal state to
thwart enforcement and clean up
efforts, and actively pollute the waters where
we fish, swim, boat, and drink.
Courting
Disaster details
more than 30 cases which
demonstrate that without
immediate action in Congress, a generation of
progress in cleaning up our
nation’s waters may be lost. We cannot afford
to return to the days of dirty
water. These telling examples include numerous instances where:
·
an administrative agency (EPA or Corps)
limited legal
protection for a given water body, ruling that
it is no longer protected by the
Clean Water Act;
·
a court made a determination
undercutting Clean Water Act
protections for a water
body;
·
as a defense in an enforcement action,
an alleged
polluter raised the issue of whether the water
they discharged into is a
protected water;
·
the Corps of Engineers originally
determined a water not
be protected, forcing EPA to step in to
overrule the Corps and protect the water
body; and
·
a discharger with a permit argued it
could pollute waters
without federal safeguards in the future.
“These
examples from across America make clear the
urgent need for Congress to pass the
Clean Water Restoration Act -- every day that
passes puts at risk America’s
streams, wetlands, and our sources of clean
water,” said Jim Murphy, wetlands
& water resources counsel, National
Wildlife Federation. “Robust wetlands,
rivers, and streams are essential to help
people and wildlife survive the
impacts of global warming that include more
intense storms, droughts and habitat
loss.”
“Since
2003, drinking water sources for 111 million
Americans have been put at risk
because of policies that give free reign to
polluters,” said Paul Schwartz,
national policy coordinator, Clean Water
Action. “This report shows that action
by Congress is
overdue.”
“The
Clean Water Act was created to broadly protect
our nation’s waters, including
the many streams, ponds, and wetlands that
provide recreation, fishing, wildlife
habitat, and our drinking water,” said Dalal
Aboulhosn, clean water
representative, Sierra Club. “Congress needs to
step up now and reaffirm the
Clean Water Act as it was originally intended
before more of our waters are
lost.”
“The
Clean Water Act is broken,” said Joan Mulhern,
senior legislative counsel,
Earthjustice. “Every week that goes that
Congress does not pass legislation to
fix it, dozens of streams and wetlands – like
those in this report – are lost to
pollution and destruction. President Obama said
during the campaign that he
supports this legislation. There is no reason
to wait any longer to address this
dire problem.”
“The
rubber meets the road in the South where most
of
“Across
the nation, polluters are being allowed to dump
into our waterways, including
countless drinking water sources,” said Jon
Devine, Senior Attorney for NRDC.
“Congress can and must fix the Clean Water Act
so it protects the health of our
rivers, lakes, streams, and the millions of
Americans who rely on
them.”
The
cases in Courting Disaster
provide
telling examples of how critical it is for
Congress to reverse the damage done
from the Supreme Court’s decisions by restoring
longstanding Clean Water Act
protections. The Clean Water Restoration Act
would accomplish this. This Act was
introduced in the Senate two weeks ago. A
similar bill should soon be introduced
in the House.
Immediate Release: April 14,
2008
Contact: Aileo
Weinmann, communications manager, National
Wildlife Federation, 202-797-6801,
Paul
Schwartz,
national policy coordinator, Clean Water
Action, 202-279-0438,
pschwartz@cleanwater.org
Josh Dorner, Sierra Club, 202-675-2384,
Josh.dorner@sierraclub.org
Kathleen Sullivan, Southern
Environmental Law Center, 919-965-7106,
ksullivan@selcnc.org
Raviya
Ismail, eastern press
secretary, Earthjustice, 202-667-4500, ext 237,
rismail@earthjustice.org
Erin Allweiss, Natural Resources Defense
Council,
202-513-6254,
eallweiss@nrdc.org
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