-----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2005 12:33 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: TAKE ACTION: Ensure that the Clean Water Act continues to protect our waters Importance: High Ensure that the Clean Water Act continues to protect our waters ACTION: Urge your Representative to join Representative Oberstar as an original cosponsor of the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act when he re-introduces this bill early in the 109th Congress. The Bush administration is withdrawing federal protection from many wetlands, streams and ponds, leaving them vulnerable to pollution or destruction. The "Clean Water Authority Restoration Act" is an important step for safeguarding these waters from pollution from industry and developers. Please urge your representative to support the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act so that we can continue the progress we've made under the Clean Water Act. The Administration is using a 2001 Supreme Court ruling as justification for abandoning many small streams, wetlands and ponds. This action would leave communities at risk from increased flooding, degraded drinking water, exposure to bacteria, pathogens and toxics. Ask your representative to be an original cosponsor the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act to ensure that the Clean Water Act will continue to keep all of our nation's waters healthy and safe. Background: Early in the 109th Congress, Congressman James Oberstar (MN) will introduce important legislation to protect wetlands and other waters. The Clean Water Authority Restoration Act responds to the 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling which dealt a serious blow to the protection of the nation's waters by narrowing federal authority to control water pollution. The Supreme Court ruling in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) v. Army Corps of Engineers overturned the federal government's long-held authority under the Clean Water Act to protect non-navigable, intrastate, isolated wetlands, streams and other waterbodies from pollution based on their use by migratory birds. The Court's 5-4 majority opinion questioned whether federal Clean Water Act protections apply to any wetlands, streams and other waters that may be considered isolated. In the wake of confusion created by the Court's opinion, varying interpretations have been applied by the agencies and in the courts. In some areas of the country, the ruling was seen as setting aside federal protection of all waters that are not immediately adjacent to rivers and streams used for navigation. In January 2003, the Bush administration issued an immediate policy guidance that would remove protections from many of our small streams, ponds and wetlands that appear to be disconnected from major rivers and lakes. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the guidance alone places at risk 20% of the United States' remaining wetlands, some 20 million acres. Many more small streams and ponds could also be excluded. The Clean Water Authority Restoration Act provides the long-term solution. The legislation would clarify that Congress intends for Clean Water Act protections to apply to all such waters as waters of the United States, based on a longstanding definition of waters of the United States in Army Corps of Engineers regulations. The bill would also delete the word "navigable" from the Clean Water Act to clarify that the primary concern of Congress in 1972, and now, is the protection of the nation's waters from pollution, rather than just to sustain the navigability of waterways. Don't know who your Representative is? Go to http://www.house.gov/ or call 202-224-3121 to find out who represents you. _______________________________ Navis Bermudez Washington Representative Clean Water/CAFO Campaign Environmental Quality Program 202.675.2392 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/