Forwarded by Jane Clark at [log in to unmask]
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Sierra Club Action Daily
Vol II, #112
July 9, 1999


TAKE ACTION ON CLEAN WATER: Within the next week EPA may issue draft
guidance for issuing Clean Water Act permits to factory farms. This the
first detailed action the Clinton Administration is taking under the new
plan to protect health and the environment from these facilities. This
draft guidance should require permits to include strong, enforceable,
measurable, and nationally-consistent conditions to protect our rivers,
lakes and streams.  Measures to ensure that animal factories more carefully
store their waste, apply the manure onto the land properly, locate animal
factories away from places that are ecologically sensitive, and measure and
report their water quality are all essential features needed in every Clean
Water Act permit. Instead, EPA appears to be prepared to allow states to
have variable standards (undermining the concept of a national baseline of
protection), based on loose and unenforceable"considerations," and include
little public comment and accountability.

Call the White House comment line and leave a message in support of strong
permitting guidance, using the information above. For more information,
contact Ed Hopkins at
 [log in to unmask] or (202) 675-7908.

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