As many of you know, a several years back the Supreme Court ruled on two cases which have created significant uncertainty as to what waters are protected under the Clean Water Act.  As a result, environmental groups around the nation have been working to eliminate the confusion and restore protection to our nation’s waters through gaining support for the Clean Water Restoration Act - a bill which would remove the confusing term “navigable” from the Act, make clear “waters of the United States” means those water bodies protected prior to 2001, and clarify Congress’s broad constitutional authority to protect such waters.

In a recent article, the New York Times highlighted some of the dangerous results of removing protection from smaller, unconnected water bodies, and noting an estimated “more than 1,500 major pollution investigations have been discontinued or shelved in the last four years.”  The lack of enforcement ability on behalf of the EPA and our states threatens our drinking water, wildlife, and recreational use of our streams.

Congress must act quickly to restore protection to our nation’s waters!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 4:10 pm and is filed under Enforcement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.