Environment America is the new home of U.S. PIRG’s environmental work.
U.S. PIRG applauds Representatives James Oberstar (D-MN), Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
and John Dingell (D-MI) and 155 of their House colleagues for introducing the
Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007. This important legislation protects
America’s waters by ensuring that all U.S. waterways continue to be safeguarded
by the Clean Water Act.
From the Great Lakes to Chesapeake Bay to the
Colorado River, Americans rely on our treasured waterways for clean drinking
water and safe places to swim, boat and fish. Today, these waters are
struggling from too much pollution and the important protections of the Clean
Water Act are being undermined by Bush administration policies and court
challenges by polluters. As a result of the attacks on the Clean Water Act,
thousands of miles of streams and millions of acres of wetlands are at risk of
unlimited pollution and destruction.
To clean up our treasured waters,
all U.S. waterways from the large rivers and lakes to the streams and wetlands
that are their source waters must remain protected by the federal Clean Water
Act.
States are doing their part to protect America’s waters and
wildlife:
· In Maryland, the
governor recently signed a new law to curb runoff pollution into the Chesapeake
Bay.
·
In the Great
Lakes, the states are working on a regional compact to conserve Great Lakes
water resources.
·
In Washington,
the state legislature passed a bill in April to ban the use of toxic flame
retardants that are showing up in ever larger concentrations in the orcas, harbor seals and salmon of Puget Sound.
All of these efforts
have a significant impact in cleaning up our waterways, but they will mean
little if the streams and wetlands that feed and clean the nation’s waters lose
Clean Water Act protections.
Congress should take swift action to pass
the Clean Water Restoration Act and protect all of America’s waters. We
look forward to working with the bill’s sponsors to enact this important
legislation.
