The Clean Water Rule protects nearly 2 million miles of America’s streams, which help provide drinking water for 1 in 3 Americans.
The rule also protects millions of acres of wetlands that provide wildlife habitat and keep pollutants out of waterways from the Great Lakes to the Chesapeake Bay to Puget Sound.
We helped lead the coalition that won the Obama administration’s approval of the rule in 2015. More than 800,000 Americans—including more than 1,000 business owners, local officials, farmers, doctors and nurses—supported the rule.
In July 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt proposed to repeal the rule in a move that Environment Colorado’s John Rumpler said, defied “sound science, common sense and the will of the American people.”
We can block the repeal of this vital clean water protection. But it’s going to take a three-part bankshot to win.
- First, we’ll urge the public to show their support for the Clean Water Rule during EPA public comment periods.
- Next, if EPA ignores the public support for clean water, we’ll challenge the rollback of the rule in court.
- Third, some in Congress are moving to make it impossible to defend the clean water rule in court. We need just a few more votes in the Senate to stop them.