“Since the Administration refuses to protect our waters, we have no choice but to ask the courts to require the EPA to follow the law.”
Contact: Lacey McCormick, National Wildlife Federation, McCormick@NWF.org, 512-610-7765
WASHINGTON (January 23, 2020) – The EPA is set to release a final rule reducing the scope of waters protected from pollution, destruction, and degradation by the Clean Water Act. This rule would leave streams – and even some rivers – federally unprotected that have been covered since the law was first passed in 1972. It would also remove protections for approximately half of the nation’s wetlands.
“At a time when communities across the country are desperately trying to clean up polluted waters and one-third of wildlife species are at a heightened risk of extinction, this misguided rule places our drinking water, our wildlife and our nation’s way of life further at risk,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation.
“Since the Administration refuses to protect our waters, we have no choice but to ask the courts to require the EPA to follow the law. We simply cannot afford to lose protections for half of our remaining wetlands, nor can we take any unnecessary chances with our drinking water.”
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