Bush Administration Anti-Clean Water Policies Threaten the Health of Waters

[Guest guest]

http://www.ems.org/rls/2004/03/23/bush_administrat.html

 

March 23, 2004

 

Contact:

Chuck Porcari, 202-785-8683, Mark Sokolove,

202-785-8683, mark_sokolove

 

Bush Administration Anti-Clean Water Policies

Threaten the Health of Waters Americans Treasure

 

Environmental Groups Across the Country

Call on Bush Administration to Withdraw Policies

Undermining the Clean Water Act

and Weakening Protections

 

Washington, DC - Today, several leading national

environmental organizations joined with more than 50

clean water advocate groups in approximately 31 states

to highlight some of the lakes, rivers and bays that

Americans treasure, and to call upon the Bush

administration to reverse its policies that threaten

these waters throughout the nation with increased

pollution. The groups identified critically important

waters, including the Rio Grande, the Coal River, the

Chesapeake Bay, and Lake Erie that are at risk of

becoming more polluted because of the Bush

administration's actions, in particular the January

2003 policy designed to remove all Clean Water Act

safeguards from many of the nation's wetlands, lakes,

streams and other waters.

 

In January 2003 the Bush administration issued a

directive that instructed its agencies not to enforce

the Clean Water Act to protect many wetlands, small

streams and other waters without first obtaining

permission from headquarters. At the same time, the

administration announced that it was planning to

rewrite Clean Water Act regulations to exclude some

wetlands and streams from all Clean Water Act

protections. In response to enormous public and

Congressional opposition to their plans, last December

the administration announced that it was dropping the

formal rule changes. It has since become clear that

the agencies are simply ignoring parts of existing

Clean Water Act rules, and failing to enforce federal

pollution limits over many wetlands, small streams and

other waters.

 

" The Bush administration is saying one thing and doing

another, " said Robin Mann, Chair of Sierra Club's

Clean Water Campaign. " The administration told the

American people they would leave the existing

protections in place, but, behind the public's back,

they have been using unwritten rules that leave many

wetlands, lakes and even streams, at risk. The Bush

administration should be enforcing, not weakening, the

Clean Water Act. "

 

" When the Bush administration announced it was

dropping plans to rewrite the rules saying which

waters are protected by the Clean Water Act, we all

assumed that meant they would uphold and enforce

existing law, " said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative

counsel for Earthjustice. " It is nothing short of

duplicitous for the administration to publicly abandon

the rulemaking but privately and cynically abandon

many streams and wetlands, leaving them open to

unlimited pollution and destruction. "

 

According to the groups, a letter from the Assistant

Secretary of the Army that accompanied a recent

General Accounting Office (GAO) report to Congress

shows how the administration is acting as if Clean

Water Act regulations have been changed. In the

letter, John Paul Woodley states, " Following the

SWANCC decision, it may generally be said that a water

(and associated aquatic resources) will be subject to

Clean Water Act jurisdiction if the water is either a

territorial sea, a traditional navigable water, a

tributary to a traditional navigable water, or an

adjacent wetland. " This definition, the groups noted,

excludes the vast and diverse category of other waters

- such as lakes, bogs, freshwater marshes, forested

wetlands and even seasonal streams - that perform

essential chemical, physical and biological functions

within stream and river networks. The discharge of

pollution into, or destruction of, these small

wetlands and streams will inevitably harm the

treasured downstream waters that groups are

highlighting across the country.

 

" The Bush administration's rhetorical commitment to

" no net loss " of wetlands and protection of the

nations' streams is only window dressing, " said Daniel

Rosenberg, an attorney with the Natural Resources

Defense Council. " The truth is they are pushing an

industry-backed agenda that places the health of our

waters and the public at risk. "

 

" Whether it's because we want clean drinking water for

our family or healthy habitat for the game species we

treasure, Americans care about this country's waters, "

says Julie Sibbing, Wetlands Policy Specialist for the

National Wildlife Federation. " Yet, these overreaching

guidelines ignore Americans' concerns and threaten

wetlands, and streams that have been safe from

pollution and destruction for more than 30 years. "

 

" We are collectively calling on the Bush

administration to stop listening to their corporate

contributors. Instead, they should reverse the current

policy and uphold the Clean Water Act by applying its

protections to all waters of the United States, " said

Barbara Elkus, Senior Policy Advisor at The League of

Conservation Voters.

 

Today's action is the first time that groups around

the country have identified many of the popular

waterbodies placed at risk by Bush administration

actions. The groups noted that, in addition to the

directive to abandon federal clean water protections

over many waters, other Bush administration policies

allowing more sewage in rivers and coal companies to

destroy headwater streams are also having a negative

effect on water quality across the country.

 

 

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