Clean Water Act
Updates
The deadline for getting comments to EPA and the Army Corps urging that they halt plans to gut the Clean Water Act has passed, but things aren’t over yet. Stay tuned for more ways you can be involved soon!
NC Wrote Strong Comments to EPA Opposing Rollbacks: The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Justice sent excellent comments in to the federal agencies opposing the rollbacks.
Write a letter to the editor: Though the comment period is over, as EPA analyzes the comments received it is still important to show visible public support for clean water, one way to do this is to write a letter to the editor in your local paper. You can find some information on how to do that here.
EPA’s Waters of the United States Rule Aims to Gut Protections for Your Streams and Wetlands
Despite the fundamental necessity of clean water, politicians in Washington are trying to dismantle the Clean Water Act, which has kept our nation’s waters clean for nearly 50 years. This bedrock environmental safeguard is a central tool used by state and local governments to shield and protect clean water needed for healthy communities and families. Without it, polluted waters would threaten North Carolina’s local economies, communities, and way of life.
Allowing open dumping into upstream waters spells trouble for everyone downstream. Pollution dumped by industry flows from smaller streams into our rivers and lakes, across state lines and downriver, contaminating waters used by families and communities for drinking and recreation. The best way to protect clean water is to stop harmful pollution at its source, before it reaches our waterways.
Under the proposal by the administration and supported by industrial polluters, more than 49,000 miles of North Carolina’s streams and millions of acres of wetlands will again be at risk from pollution and destruction. At least fifty percent of North Carolinians get their drinking water from sources that rely on small streams that may lose critical Clean Water Act protections under the administration’s proposal. More than 7,000 miles of streams that feed into North Carolina’s drinking water sources would be at risk for pollution if the Clean Water Act is rolled back as the administration plans. Millions of acres of wetlands that provide flood protection, filter pollution, and provide essential wildlife habitat are at risk if the federal government moves forward with its plan.
Your voice will is critical to ensure North Carolina’s waterways are protected so please stay tuned on how you can help fight for our waterways.
More Information & Resources
Southern Environmental Law Center Fact Sheet
New York Times: Trump Rule Would Limit E.P.A.’s Control Over Water Pollution
The Intercept: EPA’s Own Data Refutes Justification for Clean Water Act Rollback
EPA fact sheet on major changes
North Carolina DEQ and DOJ comments regarding the rollback proposal