Fight Congress’ Attack on the Clean Water Act!
The Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act would roll back 40 years of Clean Water Act protection by stripping away EPA’s authority over our nation’s water quality standards. Before the Clean Water Act, states were free to set their own standards, which resulted in a “race to the bottom” to attract industrial development, and interstate conflicts when one state’s pollution problems were passed downstream to another. The Clean Water Act enabled EPA to create a level playing field for water quality across the country that improved our waters and protected public health. This proposed legislation would undo all of that, a recipe for a return to dirtier waters – we need your support to make sure this doesn’t happen!
If passed, this law would:
- Prevent EPA from requiring states to develop strong, consistent regulations to protect our waters.
- Abolish EPA’s authority to step in when a state-issued Clean Water Act permit is inadequate.
- Undermine our efforts to achieve “fishable, swimmable” waters across the U.S.
- Set us back to the time when industries and big business were free to dump their toxic sludge into our waters.
- Be a devastating blow to our progress suing hundreds of polluters on the Hudson, forcing them to comply with EPA’s strict standards.
The Clean Water Act is the basis for every battle Riverkeeper fights. Please write and call your Congressperson today and urge them to oppose HR 2018, the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011!
