Stop Clean Water Act Weakening - Call Today

From Kentuckians for the Commonwealth:

Several members of the U.S. Senate – including Kentucky senators McConnell and Paul – are pushing amendments that would keep the Environmental Protection Agency from doing its job, while also doing serious damage to the Clean Water Act.

They are pushing three amendments to the Water Resources Development Act of 2013 (S. 601), legislation directed at restoring ecosystems and reducing erosion. Those amendments are:

Amendment #850 would remove EPA’s critical yet scarcely used authority to stop Section 404 permits for harmful projects that discharge dredge and fill materials into rivers, lakes and streams such as valley fills associated with mountaintop removal mining. This amendment also removes EPA’s authority to ensure states effectively implement state water quality standards and improve standards without states agreeing to the changes. This amendment would also prevent EPA from objecting to state-approved NPDES water pollution permits that do not meet the minimum standards of the law.

Amendment #846 would prohibit EPA from using its Clean Water Act authority to veto a dredge and fill permit that has a significantly adverse effect on drinking water, fisheries, wildlife or recreational areas, if EPA acts after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issues a permit, as was the case recently with the Spruce mine in West Virginia. Currently, under the Clean Water Act, the EPA has this clear authority (recently upheld by a federal court) to veto permits for dredge and fill activities such as valley fills associated wi

Amendment #846, sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul, would change the definition of waters that are under the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act by eliminating protections for intermittent and ephemeral streams. Again, this is a direct attempt to stop EPA's efforts to stop (or at least limit) the dumping of toxic mining wastes into Kentucky headwater streams.

The Water Resources Development Act of 2013 is a big bill that deals with all kinds of water projects across the U.S. This bill has so many projects that nearly every Senator wants to see addressed for their state that the bill appears to have overwhelming support. So if these bad amendments get attached it is likely the bill will still pass.

Take Action

We need to stop these amendments – either by having Senate leadership limit the number of amendments on the bill through a cloture motion, or by voting them down.
Call Senate President Harry Reid at 202-224-3542 with this message:

Oppose all amendments to the Water Resources Development Act intended to weaken the Clean Water Act and its enforcement by the EPA, including Amendment numbers 801, 846 and 850.

Please call starting as early as you can on Tuesday morning.