As the Trump Administration Attempts to Carry Out the Largest Ever Rollback of Our Nation’s Clean Water Protections, Leading Members of Congress Urge Administration to Reverse Course Immediately
President Trump’s Dirty Water Rule, now posted in the federal register, is currently open for public comment before it can be finalized
Members of Congress: “…if the Dirty Water Rule is finalized, generations to come will point to this action as the moment where comprehensive water quality protections in the United States ceased to exist”
An estimated 117 million Americans – one out of every three people – get their drinking water from sources fed by streams vulnerable to pollution
Washington, D.C. — Today, members of Congress who hold leadership positions on Committees with jurisdiction over the nation’s waterways urged the Trump administration to abandon proposed changes and instead leave clean water protections in place, emphasizing the importance of clean water to tens of millions of Americans and the U.S. economy. In their letter to the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio, Chair of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Grace Napolitano, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Tom Carper, and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife Tammy Duckworth, described the Trump administration’s proposed rule, which would create a patchwork of often-conflicting state laws and leave drinking sources in communities across the country more vulnerable to contamination, as “misguided, misinformed, and fundamentally flawed.”
The members wrote: “The proposal will result in greater regulatory confusion and increased costs for average American families, as well as the likely degradation or destruction of our Nation’s precious natural resources…. the Dirty Water Rule represents a fundamental reversal of our Nation’s bipartisan commitment to protect our water-related environment and needs to be withdrawn.”
The members continued: “…the Trump administration has tried to promote its Dirty Water Rule under the guise of certainty, clarity, and cost-savings; however, this Rule fails everyday American families in every way.”
To read the full letter, click here.
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