New EPA plan would drastically roll back clean water protections
Media Contacts
Environment Washington
“The Dirty Water Rule would put Puget Sound and our drinking water at risk of pollution. It defies common sense, sound science and the will of Washingtonians,” Bruce Speight, Environment Washington
Seattle, WA — On December 11, 2018, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled its plan to drastically roll back Clean Water Act protections from vast networks of streams and wetlands in Washington and across the country. Bruce Speight, Environment WA Director, issued the following statement:
“The ‘Dirty Water Rule’ is the most extreme attack on clean water in recent memory. This outrageous proposal upends the core mission of the EPA: protecting human health and the environment.
“The health of Puget Sound depends on the streams that feed it and the wetlands that filter out pollution. By stripping federal protections from streams and wetlands, the Dirty Water Rule would put Puget Sound and our drinking water at risk of pollution. It defies common sense, sound science and the will of the Washingtonians.”
“The Dirty Water Rule being proposed today would replace the 2015 Clean Water Rule, which restored federal protections to 54 percent of Washington’s streams, which feed waterways like Puget Sound and help provide drinking water to more than 2 million Washingtonians. More than a thousand scientific studies and a million Americans – including 16,123 Washingtonians – backed protections for these waterways.
“As stewards of our environment, it is our moral obligation to protect Washington waters. For the sake of our ecosystem, our way of life, and even our own drinking water, we must stop EPA from opening our waterways to polluters.”
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Environment Washington is a statewide, membership-based organization that works for clean air, clean water, clean energy, and open spaces. www.environmentwashington.org.
