60% of Our Waters At Stake!

Did you know that 60% of our nation’s rivers and streams could be stripped of federal protection? Industry groups are trying to undo long-established safeguards for our local waterways and wetlands, but we now have a chance to stop them. Ask your representative to support the Clean Water Restoration Act now.

The Clean Water Restoration Act would restore the original intent of the Clean Water Act, the law that has protected our communities from pollution and cleaned up our nation’s water - water that our kids can play in, water that supports healthy fish and wildlife populations, water that is free from dangerous toxins.

We have momentum. Take action now to urge Congress to protect our local waters by supporting the Clean Water Restoration Act. With 158 representatives cosponsoring the Act, we are confident that we can win the backing to pass this important bill.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to request that you become an original cosponsor of the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 (H.R. 2421) to reaffirm the primary objective of the Clean Water Act: protecting all of our nation's waters from pollution and destruction.

I understand that this bipartisan legislation will be reintroduced soon in the 110th Congress by Representatives James Oberstar (D-MN), John Dingell (D-MI), and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI).

Developers, the oil industry, and other polluters are seeking to radically narrow the scope of the Clean Water Act so that it would provide protections only for water bodies large enough to support commercial shipping.

This would leave the vast majority of the nation's streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, and wetlands without any federal anti-pollution protections at all.

According to the EPA, this move would place up to 59 percent of the nation's total streams at risk, jeopardize the safety of surface waters used as drinking water supplies for more than 110 million Americans, and could mean the pollution or destruction of millions of acres of wetlands across the country needed for flood control, fishing, wildlife habitat, recreation, and other purposes.

A June 2006 Supreme Court ruling has helped place many of these waters in jeopardy of losing Clean Water Act safeguards.

I am disappointed that the court decided not to allow the greatest protections for lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, and wetlands that provide drinking water supplies to one in every three Americans to be covered by the Clean Water Act.

The Supreme Court decision highlights more than ever the need for Congress to take action, reaffirming and clarifying once and for all that the Clean Water Act protects all waters of the United States.

Congress must live up to its responsibility to ensure that all communities have safe and healthy waters by passing The Clean Water Restoration Act.

If you have not already, please become an original cosponsor of this bill today!

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
May 09, 2007