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Give the Clean Water Act the Birthday Present it Deserves!
 The Clean Water Act, one of the nation’s most comprehensive and successful environmental laws, is celebrating its 35th birthday on October 18. This landmark occasion comes at a time when the safeguards for the nation’s waters are under unprecedented threat.
Congress needs to act now to preserve the gains in water quality made by the Act, and to prevent a return to the days when more than 75 percent of the nation’s waters were too polluted to be safe for fishing, swimming, and other uses.
Polluting industries are trying to undo long-established safeguards for our local waterways and wetlands, but we now have a chance to stop them. If they have their way, up to 60 percent of our nation’s rivers and streams could be stripped of federal Clean Water Act protections.
The Clean Water Restoration Act would reaffirm and restore the original scope of the Clean Water Act, the law that has protected our communities from pollution and cleaned up our nation’s waters -- waters that our kids can play in, that support healthy fish and wildlife populations, and that are free from dangerous toxins.
Take action now to urge Congress to protect our local waters by passing the Clean Water Restoration Act.
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| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Support Clean Water: Pass the Clean Water Restoration Act Now
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I am writing to request that you do everything you can to ensure Congress passes the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 (H.R. 2421/S. 1870) this year.
This bill is needed to reaffirm and restore the primary objective of the original Clean Water Act: to protect all of our nation's waters from pollution and destruction.
The Clean Water Act, one of our nation's most successful environmental laws, is celebrating its 35th anniversary on October 18. This landmark occasion comes at a time when the safeguards for the nation's waters are under unprecedented threat.
As our elected official, we depend on you to make sure that the Clean Water Act continues to protect our communities' water from pollution. These are the - waters that our kids play in, that prevent floods, that support healthy fish and wildlife populations, and that supply drinking water.
The Clean Water Act will fail to fulfill its promise that all communities can have safe and healthy waters if some wetlands, streams, tributaries, and other waterways are left outside its protective scope. The bottom line is you are either for clean water or not. Congress must live up to its responsibility by passing the Clean Water Restoration Act.
Please stand up for all the waters of our nation by supporting passage of the Clean Water Restoration Act now!
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
October 17, 2007
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This year, the Clean Water Act turns 35. Since this historic law passed, it 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 grounds, 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 other 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. These nearly 2 million river miles-- could be denied protection even though they contribute to the public drinking water supplies of more than 110 million people.
- Over 14,000 industrial facilities have Clean Water Act permits that regulate their water pollution. Those --permits will 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 for degradation.
- Based on agency records, a wide variety of waters have already 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 for drinking water 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), and Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) 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:
- Adopt the definition of “waters of the United States” to ensure ALL water in the U.S. is protected.
- 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.
- 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 (H.R. 2421/S. 1870) would simply adopt the existing 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 Restoration Act. Write your representative and senators and ask them to give the Clean Water Act the birthday present it deserves by working to get the Clean Water Restoration Act passed now!
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