Take Action – Protect Colorado Wetlands and Headwaters

On May 25th, the US Supreme Court issued a ruling in Sackett vs. EPA that sharply reduced Clean Water Act protections for wetlands that are vital to healthy and functioning watersheds. While not directly addressed, the decision also appears to put streams that don’t have year-round flow at risk of losing Clean Water Act protection as well.  Those ephemeral and intermittent streams represent a majority of Colorado’s waterways and are the sources that feed our larger rivers that support fisheries, as well as providing drinking water to our communities and supplies for agriculture. If we fail to protect water quality at its source, we cannot protect it downstream.

With federal protection for most of Colorado’s waterways jeopardized under the Court’s decision, we need the State to step up and ensure our waters remain protected. Please take a moment to ask Governor Jared Polis to ensure that the State takes on this responsibility so that state water quality protections are applied to keep our headwater streams and wetlands intact. With a strong State-level program, Colorado can continue to protect the high-quality water that we need for our fisheries, our communities, and our working landscapes.

Dreaming of making a big catch on a Bristol Bay river? Help keep that dream alive...

Today, we have the opportunity to help keep North America’s great remaining wild salmon region in Bristol Bay, Alaska from being destroyed by the massive proposed Pebble mine.  

WHAT’S AT STAKE: 

• The health of the world’s largest sockeye salmon run

• A $1.5 billion combined Bristol Bay fishery

• 14,000 jobs supported by the Bristol Bay salmon fishery

The lead agency reviewing the key federal permit for the proposed Pebble mine has released a draft of the Environmental Impact Statement, the most important document in the process that could lead to a massive, ill-planned copper mine in the headwaters of a region producing over half of the world’s wild sockeye salmon.   

Currently, the comment period is set to be 90 days long (March 1 - May 30), with 9 public hearings in Alaska. Though the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be the lead agency, it is equally important that members of Congress, the U.S. EPA, the President and, (if in Alaska) the Governor are aware of continued, broad opposition to the proposed Pebble mine. 

Now is the time to comment to the Corps of Engineers that the Pebble mine should not advance in Bristol Bay due to risks it poses to the world class salmon and famed rainbow trout fisheries of the region. 

There’s no time for complacency when it comes to Pebble Mine. Please tell the agency reviewing Pebble’s most important permit to follow the science and stop the mine. Please take action today. 

Seeing Red: Do fewer protections impact your water?

The Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are proposing to significantly narrow the scope of protections for our nation’s waters. The proposal would replace a positive, TU-supported 2015 rule (the Clean Water Rule) designed to clarify the scope of Clean Water Act protections, which includes protections for headwaters, intermittent and ephemeral streams, and wetlands. The new proposal (Replacement Rule) would substantially weaken the Clean Water Act, one of the Nation’s most effective natural resource laws.

Whether you fish or just simply understand the value of clean water, there is no law more important than the Clean Water Act. In 2015, the EPA developed a rule that affirmed Clean Water Act protections for “intermittent and ephemeral streams.” In 2018,  the Environmental Protection Agency proposed weakening these protections. These streams —the headwaters of our nation’s rivers —provide us the fisheries we cherish and the clean drinking water we require. -Trout Unlimited

Intermittent streams are those that have a continuous flow but only at certain times of the year, sustained seasonally by springs, ground-water inputs or a surface water source such as rain or melting snow.

Ephemeral streams flow only briefly (hours to days) in direct response to precipitation in the immediate vicinity.

The proposed Replacement Rule would end Clean Water Act protections for millions of stream miles across the country — streams that contribute to the drinking water supplies of 117-million Americans and provide essential fish and wildlife habitat that support a robust outdoor recreation economy worth $887 billion. The proposed rule would also erase protections for millions of acres of wetlands, a critical part of functioning watersheds, including groundwater recharge, pollution filtration, as well as protecting communities from flooding. In eliminating these protections, the Replacement Rule would deregulate a host of development activities, such as pipeline construction that will, over time, degrade hunting and fishing opportunities in every state in the country.

The Clean Water Act and the 2015 Rule are vital to TU’s work and to anglers across the nation. Whether TU is working with farmers to restore small headwater streams in West Virginia, removing acidic pollution caused by abandoned mines in Pennsylvania, or protecting the world-famous salmon-producing, 14,000-jobs-sustaining watershed of Bristol Bay, Alaska, we rely on the Clean Water Act to safeguard our water quality.  

TU members, and sportsmen and women nationwide, want to move forward with progress on cleaning up our nation’s waters, not go backwards. Please join us in writing to tell the Agencies that the Clean Water Act needs to be improved, not weakened. The proposed Replacement Rule should be rejected.