The Clean Water for All Act is an effort to ensure that our headwaters - many of which are ephemeral or intermittent streams that do not flow year round - retain the Clean Water Act protections they’ve enjoyed for more than 40 years but that would be lost under a recently announced rule changing Clean Water Act definitions. If we don’t protect the sources of our larger rivers, we can’t protect those rivers or the fisheries and communities that rely on them!
Below is an excerpt from Steve Moyer, TU’s vice president for government affairs, read the full blog here.
The Clean Water for All Act would repeal the Trump administration’s harmful rule and direct the agencies to start over in a manner that protects America’s waterways—all of them—consistent with four decades of Clean Water Act precedent.
Research by Trout Unlimited suggests that the administration’s new rule will end Clean Water Act protections for more than six million miles of streams—half the U.S. total. These streams contribute to the drinking water supplies of 117 million Americans and provide essential fish and wildlife habitat that supports a robust outdoor recreation economy worth $887 billion.
The rule will also erase protections for more than half of the nation’s wetlands, a critical part of functioning watersheds. Wetlands help recharge groundwater, filter pollution and protect communities from flooding.
The EPA’s new rule was justifiably criticized by many state and local government agencies, fish and wildlife conservation organizations and hundreds of thousands of citizens during the rule-making comment period. It is a real threat to trout and salmon watersheds nationwide.
The Clean Water for All Act would help protect the rivers of southwestern Oregon, and streams across the nation. Please take a moment today to help us urge House members to work with their colleagues to pass this bill into law.
