President Biden has demonstrated a commitment to deliver clean drinking
water to all, combat the climate crisis, protect our country’s waterways,
and fight for racial equity and justice. This vision cannot happen while
the Trump administration’s Dirty Water Rule remains in place. The Dirty
Water Rule is already harming our waters and communities, and threatens the
drinking water of tens of millions of people while giving corporate
polluters a free pass to contaminate our wetlands and streams. The Biden
administration should act now to repeal the Dirty Water Rule for the sake
of our communities, health, and outdoors.

Today (June 9, 2021), the EPA announced that they will begin the process of
repealing the Trump administration’s Dirty Water Rule. Although we agree
the unlawful rule should be repealed, today’s announcement leaves our
nation’s waters in jeopardy. Every day the Dirty Water Rule is allowed to
stay in effect threatens the health of our waterways and the communities
that rely on them.

   -

   EPA needs to quickly undergo a rulemaking to repeal the Dirty Water Rule
   as expeditiously as possible in order to stop the continued harm to our
   waters. The Dirty Water Rule threatens millions of miles of streams, tens
   of millions of acres of wetlands, and other water bodies that perform
   critical ecological functions and provide numerous economic benefits for
   communities and the environment.
   -

   We know more than enough to justify eliminating the Dirty Water Rule as
   soon as possible. The Dirty Water Rule is causing real-world damage right
   now -- more than 90% of the streams, wetlands, and other water bodies
   evaluated by the Corps of Engineers under the rule are not being protected
   by the Clean Water Act. Without prompt action, this destruction will
   accelerate following this announcement.
   -

   We urge EPA to repeal the Dirty Water Rule as quickly as possible and
   ensure that their next rulemaking includes a durable definition of ‘Waters
   of the United States’. Further federal agency action is needed for a robust
   stakeholder engagement process that prioritizes stakeholders whose health,
   economic livelihood, and quality of life are linked to clean water; is
   grounded in the scientific evidence of waters’ functions, the consequences
   of different regulatory approaches on public health and natural resources,
   and Congress’s intent in adopting the Clean Water Act.

Link to EPA Announcement:
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-army-announce-intent-revise-definition-wotus

-- 

*Debbie Neustadt *


*Des Moines, Iowa*

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