Earthjustice * League of Conservation Voters * Sierra Club
Natural Resources Defense Council * National Wildlife Federation

March 23, 2004

Bush Administration Anti-Clean Water Policies Threaten the Health of Waters
Americans Treasure

Environmental Groups Across the Country Call on Bush Administration to
Withdraw Policies Undermining the Clean Water Act and Weakening Protections

Washington, DC - Today, several leading national environmental
organizations joined with more than 50 clean water advocate groups in
approximately 31 states to highlight some of the lakes, rivers and bays
that Americans treasure, and to call upon the Bush administration to
reverse its policies that threaten these waters throughout the nation
with increased pollution.  The groups identified critically important
waters, including the Rio Grande, the Coal River, the Chesapeake Bay,
and Lake Erie that are at risk of becoming more polluted because of the
Bush administration's actions, in particular the January 2003 policy
designed to remove all Clean Water Act safeguards from many of the
nation's wetlands, lakes, streams and other waters.

In January 2003 the Bush administration issued a directive that
instructed its agencies not to enforce the Clean Water Act to protect
many wetlands, small streams and other waters without first obtaining
permission from headquarters.  At the same time, the administration
announced that it was planning to rewrite Clean Water Act regulations to
exclude some wetlands and streams from all Clean Water Act protections.
In response to enormous public and Congressional opposition to their
plans, last December the administration announced that it was dropping
the formal rule changes. It has since become clear that the agencies are
simply ignoring parts of existing Clean Water Act rules, and failing to
enforce federal pollution limits over many wetlands, small streams and
other waters.

"The Bush administration is saying one thing and doing another," said
Robin Mann, Chair of Sierra Club's Clean Water Campaign.  "The
administration told the American people they would leave the existing
protections in place, but, behind the public's back, they have been
using unwritten rules that leave many wetlands, lakes and even streams,
at risk.  The Bush administration should be enforcing, not weakening,
the Clean Water Act."

"When the Bush administration announced it was dropping plans to
rewrite the rules saying which waters are protected by the Clean Water
Act, we all assumed that meant they would uphold and enforce existing
law," said Joan Mulhern, senior legislative counsel for Earthjustice.
"It is nothing short of duplicitous for the administration to publicly
abandon the rulemaking but privately and cynically abandon many streams
and wetlands, leaving them open to unlimited pollution and destruction."


According to the groups, a letter from the Assistant Secretary of the
Army that accompanied a recent General Accounting Office (GAO) report to
Congress shows how the administration is acting as if Clean Water Act
regulations have been changed.   In the letter, John Paul Woodley
states, "Following the SWANCC decision, it may generally be said that a
water (and associated aquatic resources) will be subject to Clean Water
Act jurisdiction if the water is either a territorial sea, a traditional
navigable water, a tributary to a traditional navigable water, or an
adjacent wetland."  This definition, the groups noted, excludes the vast
and diverse category of other waters - such as lakes, bogs, freshwater
marshes, forested wetlands and even seasonal streams - that perform
essential chemical, physical and biological functions within stream and
river networks.  The discharge of pollution into, or destruction of,
these small wetlands and streams will inevitably harm the treasured
downstream waters that groups are highlighting across the country.

"The Bush administration's rhetorical commitment to "no net loss" of
wetlands and protection of the nations' streams is only window
dressing," said Daniel Rosenberg, an attorney with the Natural Resources
Defense Council.  "The truth is they are pushing an industry-backed
agenda that places the health of our waters and the public at risk."

"Whether it's because we want clean drinking water for our family or
healthy habitat for the game species we treasure, Americans care about
this country's waters," says Julie Sibbing, Wetlands Policy Specialist
for the National Wildlife Federation.  "Yet, these overreaching
guidelines ignore Americans' concerns and threaten wetlands, and streams
that have been safe from pollution and destruction for more than 30
years."

"We are collectively calling on the Bush administration to stop
listening to their corporate contributors.  Instead, they should reverse
the current policy and uphold the Clean Water Act by applying its
protections to all waters of the United States," said Barbara Elkus,
Senior Policy Advisor at The League of Conservation Voters.

Today's action is the first time that groups around the country have
identified many of the popular waterbodies placed at risk by Bush
administration actions.  The groups noted that, in addition to the
directive to abandon federal clean water protections over many waters,
other Bush administration policies allowing more sewage in rivers and
coal companies to destroy headwater streams are also having a negative
effect on water quality across the country.

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