Earthjustice At Work

Earthjustice has long been working to keep the ALL U.S. water protected and safe:  - Florida's Lake Okeechobee, one of the largest freshwater lakes in the US, is being illegally polluted, but  Earthjustice stood up for the communities that depend on the lake –- and won.  - Thanks to Earthjustice, a federal judge in West Virginia has ruled that the practice of dumping the rubble into streams from blown up mountaintops violates the Clean Water Act. - Earthjustice has had a long and comprehensive campaign to protect U.S. water.  From streams, to wetlands, to rivers, to lakes, Earthjustice is committed to securing our nations water for future generations.

Since the 1970s, the Clean Water Act has explicitly included broad protections for the nation's waters, including the many streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands and lakes that supply drinking water, recreation opportunities, commercial fishing, and wildlife habitat.

The Clean Water Act is one of nation’s strongest environmental laws, but recently has been under a strategic and coordinated attack by developers, the oil industry and industrial polluters seeking more relaxed protections against harmful chemicals and other pollutants that can destroy our nation’s waters.

A fractured 2006 Supreme Court ruling addressing which waters should remain protected by the Clean Water Act greatly added to the uncertainty and confusion about whether, when it adopted the law in 1972, Congress intended that all waters of the United States be covered by the law.

This recent decision reinforces the need for Congress to step in and state once and for all that the Clean Water Act is meant to protect our waters from harmful pollution.

Here are just a few facts about what is at stake for our nation’s waters:

• An estimated 53-59 percent of America’s stream miles outside of Alaska are seasonal waters or headwater streams, representing nearly 2 million river miles – these could be denied protection even though these small streams contribute to the public drinking water supplies of over 110 million people.
• Over 14,000 industrial facilities have Clean Water Act permits that regulate their water pollution – permits that would no longer be required by the Clean Water Act if the law is not enforced to safeguard all waters.
  The EPA itself estimated that a policy it issued with the Army Corps of Engineers in 2003 could place as many as 20 million acres of the nation’s remaining wetlands at risk.
• Based on agency records, a wide variety of waters have been denied Clean Water Act safeguards, including a 150-mile-long river in New Mexico, thousands of acres of wetlands in one of Florida’s most important watersheds, a 69-mile long canal used as a drinking-water supply in California, and an 86-acre lake in Wisconsin that is a popular fishing spot -- just to name a few.

Only Congress Can Fix This Problem

The Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007, reintroduced in the 110th Congress by Representatives James Oberstar (D-MN), John Dingell (D-MI), and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), would restore the traditional scope of protection intended by Congress.  Americans need these safeguards to achieve the goal of restoring and maintaining the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters.

Specifically, the legislation would:

1. Adopt the definition of “waters of the United States” to ensure ALL water in the U.S. is protected.
2. Remove the word “navigable” from the original Clean Water Act to clarify that the law is principally intended to protect the nation’s waters from pollution, and not just maintain navigability.
3. Provide a clear basis for Congress’s constitutional authority over the nation’s waters, as defined in the Act, including so-called “isolated” waters, headwater streams, small rivers, ponds, lakes and wetlands.

What Can You Do?

Congress now has the opportunity to pass legislation that will clarify that all waters of the United States should be protected under federal law.

The Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 would simply adopt the existing regulatory definition (in place since the 1970s) to confirm that all "waters of the United States" are protected under the Act. This would reaffirm and restore critically needed protections for the streams, wetlands, and other waters now at risk.

Clean waters now depend on Congress to take action and pass the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act. Write your representative and ask them to support  this important bill!