Dirty Water Rule sign-on letter to EPA

The Honorable Michael Regan
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20460
Mail Code 1101A

Jaime A. Pinkham
Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works
Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works)
108 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-0108

Dear Administrator Regan and Acting Assistant Secretary Pinkham:

On behalf of our organizations’ members and supporters, we call on you to immediately repeal the ‘Dirty Water Rule’ and then permanently restore Clean Water Act protections for all our waterways – including ephemeral streams and our nation’s remaining wetlands. 

Our organizations believe that the Clean Water Act was intended to protect all of America’s waterways. Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s reckless rule has left nearly 60% of our nation’s streams and countless wetlands at risk of even more pollution and destruction.

The kinds of waters at risk are enormously valuable. Headwaters, ephemeral and intermittent streams help provide drinking water to millions of people, support fish and estuaries prized for angling and recreation, and feed our most beloved rivers, lakes, and bays. Wetlands filter out pollutants, protect communities from flooding, and provide habitat for wildlife. In short, protecting these waterways is essential to the Clean Water Act’s core purpose — “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters.” 

Moreover, restoring protections to these waters is vital to the administration’s priorities of addressing climate change and environmental justice. As climate change drives more severe storms, wetlands’ flood protection will become even more vital. And as climate change intensifies drought, more of our streams are less likely to run year-round. Preserving wetlands and streams for communities already overburdened by pollution and flooding should be viewed as an environmental justice imperative.

For these reasons, our organizations were relieved to learn on June 9 that the Administration intends to revoke the “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” and replace it with a policy that provides durable protection to all our waterways.  

Yet you must move swiftly. Already, thousands of waterways have been deemed non-jurisdictional under the Dirty Water Rule – including two recently revised jurisdictional determinations which removed protections from about 200 acres of wetlands and 10,000 linear feet of streams in Texas and from about 200 acres of wetlands that absorb floodwaters in a flood prone area for a large development near the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina. More waters are at risk every day this drastic rollback remains on the books. 

Given the extensive prior record on the Dirty Water Rule — including widespread public opposition and criticism from EPA’s own science advisors — the agency has all the tools it needs to begin the repeal process immediately and complete it by the end of the year. We urge you to do so.

Next year, our nation will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. As stewards of this bedrock environmental statute, we call on you to permanently restore federal protections to all of America’s waterways before we reach that half-century milestone on October 18, 2022.

Sincerely,

Gershon Cohen Project Director, ACWA / Earth Island Institute, Haines AK

Charles Scribner executive director, Black Warrior Riverkeeper, Birmingham AL

Justinn Elizabeth Overton Staff Riverkeeper, Coosa Riverkeeper, Birmingham AL

Jack West Policy and Advocacy Director, Alabama Rivers Alliance, Birmingham AL

Beth Stewart Executive Director, Cahaba River Society, Birmingham AL

Brooke T Battle CEO, Swell Fundraising, Birmingham AL

Matt O’Malley Executive Director, San Diego Coastkeeper, San Diego CA

Carin High Co-Chair, Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge, Palo Alto CA

Melanie Winter Founder & Director, The River Project, Studio City CA

Melinda Booth Executive Director, South Yuba River Citizens League, Nevada City CA

Dan Silver Executive Director, Endangered Habitats League, CA

Mary Pelletier Director, Park Watershed, Hartford CN

Josh Kuhn Water Advocate , Conservation Colorado, Denver CO

Jennifer Thurston Executive Director, Information Network for Responsible Mining, Paradox CO

April Ingle Policy Director, River Network, Boulder CO

Holly Loff Executive Director, Eagle River Watershed Council, GYPSUM CO

Alicea Charamut Executive Director, Rivers Alliance of Connecticut, Litchfield CT

Tracy Kolian health policy consultant, Children’s Environmental Health Network, Washington DC

Kate Robb senior program manager, American Public Health Association , Washington DC

Rudy Arredondo President/CEO, National Latino Farmers & Ranchers Trade Association, Washington DC

Pamela Goddard Mid-Atlantic Region Senior Program Director, National Parks Conservation Association, Washington DC

Nancy Stoner President, Potomac Riverkeeper Inc, Washington DC

Tom Stewart Sr. Director of Federal Relations, The Trust for Public Land, Washington DC

Madeleine Foote Deputy Legislative Director, League of Conservation Voters, Washington DC

Tim Glover President, Friends of St. Sebastian River, Roseland FL

Mary Gutierrez Executive Director, Earth Action, Inc., FL

Emma Haydocy Executive Director, Florida Bay Forever, FL

Caleb Merendino Co-Executive Director, Waterway Advocates, Fort Lauderdale FL

Nic Nelson Executive Director , Idaho Rivers United , Boise ID

Edward Michael Chair, Government Affairs, Illinois Council Trout Unlimited, Highland Park IL

Kim Knowles Attorney & Policy Specialist, Prairie Rivers Network, Champaign IL

Clark Bullard President, Committee on the Middle Fork Vermilion River, Urbana IL

Kelly McGinnis Executive Director, Mississippi River Network, La Grange Park IL

Indra Frank Environmental Health and Water Policy Director, Hoosier Environmental Council, Indianapolis IN

Ward Wilson Executive Director, Kentucky Waterways Alliance, Louisville KY

Cynthia Sarthou Executive Director, Healthy Gulf, New Orleans LA

Rebecca Malpass Policy & Research Coordinator, The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans, New Orleans LA

Dean Wilson Executive Director, Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Plaquemine LA

Heather Miller General Counsel and Policy Director, Charles River Watershed Association, MA

Diana Conway President, Safe Healthy Playing Fields Inc, Potomac MD

Emmalee Aman Policy Director, Potomac Conservancy, Silver Spring MD

Katie Huffling Executive Director, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Mount Rainier MD

Bob Lewis Executive Director, St. Mary’s River Watershed Association, MD

Tom Taylor Co-chair, Beaverdam Creek Watershed Watch Group, Greenbelt MD

Christopher E. Williams President and CEO, Anacostia Watershed Society, Bladensburg MD

Landis Hudson executive director, Maine Rivers, Yarmouth ME

Rebecca Fedewa Executive Director , Flint River Watershed Coalition, Flint MI

Jennifer McKay Policy Director, Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council, Petoskey MI

Melissa Larsen Director, Thousand Hills Lifetime Grazed, Becker MN

Michael Garrity Executive Director, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Helena, MT 59624 MT

Anne Millbrooke signing agent for Bozeman Birders, freelance, Bozeman MT MT

Sam Davis Conservation Scientist, Dogwood Alliance, NC

Elizabeth Underwood, Ph.D. Executive Director , New River Conservancy , WEST JEFFERSON NC

Scott Skokos Executive Director, Dakota Resource Council , Bismarck ND

George R Cunningham Board Member, Nebraska Wildlife Federation, Omaha NE

Buffalo Bruce Staff Ecologist, WNRC, Western Nebraska Resources Council , Chadron NE

Andrea LaMoreaux President, New Hampshire Lakes Association, Inc. (DBA NH LAKES), Concord NH

Fred Akers River Administrator, Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association, Newtonville NJ

MICHAEL L PISAURO JR Policy Director, The Watershed Institute, Pennington NJ

Rachel Conn Deputy Director, Amigos Bravos, Taos NM

mara dias water quality manager, Surfrider Foundation, east hampton NY

David Joseph Schmitt Executive Director, Mill Creek Alliance, Cincinnati OH

Rich Cogen Executive Director, Ohio River Foundation, OH

David B Klingensmith Mr., Wild Access, Eugene OR

Julie Slavet Executive Director, Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership, Philadelphia PA

Rev. Sandra L. Strauss Director of Advocacy & Ecumenical Outreach, Pennsylvania Council of Churches, Harrisburg PA

Patrick F Leary Board President, Penns Valley conservation Association, Spring Mills PA

Abigail Jones Vice President of Legal & Policy, PennFuture, Mount Pocono PA

Bill Tanger Chair, Friends of the Rivers of Virginia, Roanoke VA

Allison Werner Executive Director , River Alliance of Wisconsin, Madison WI

Frank Rodgers Executive Director, Cacapon Institute, Great Cacapon WV

Catherine Wheeler Board Member, Friends of the Cacapon River, Wardensville WV

Nancy Steele Executive Director, Friends of the Verde River, AZ

Madeline Luke Ag Committee Member, Dakota Resource Council, Valley City ND

Carol Ann Education Director, Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, Silver City NM