Alabama River Alliance ∙ Alliance for the Great Lakes ∙ Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments ∙ American Rivers ∙ American Sustainable Business Council ∙ Children’s Environmental Health Network ∙ Citizen’s for Pennsylvania’s Future ∙ Clean Water Action ∙ Conservation Pennsylvania ∙ Earthjustice ∙ Endangered Habitats League ∙ Environmental Advocates of New York ∙ Environmental Law & Policy Center ∙ Freshwater Future ∙ Friends of the Earth ∙ Friends of the Mississippi River ∙ GreenLatinos ∙ Hip Hop Caucus ∙ Illinois Stewardship Alliance ∙ Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association ∙ League of Conservation Voters ∙ Montana Trout Unlimited ∙ National Medical Association ∙ National Wildlife Federation ∙ Natural Heritage Institute ∙ Natural Resources Council of Maine ∙ Natural Resources Defense Council ∙ Ohio Environmental Council ∙ Policy Link ∙ Puget Soundkeeper Alliance ∙ River Network ∙ Rural Coalition ∙ Sierra Club ∙ Smart Growth America ∙ Southern Environmental Law Center ∙ Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia ∙ The Wetlands Initiative
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June 4, 2018
U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative:
On behalf of our millions of members and supporters, the undersigned organizations urge you to oppose all efforts to roll back environmental laws in the Water Resources Development Act of 2018 (WRDA). Further, if any anti-environmental amendments are included in the final legislative package, we urge you to oppose the bill.
The version of WRDA 2018 that passed out of Committee is largely free of controversial policy riders that would compromise the environment and public health. As you know, the inclusion of anti-environmental riders has undermined the House’s ability to pass important infrastructure legislation in the past. To help maintain regular order and to ensure bipartisan support, we urge you to keep the WRDA bill free of environmental policy provisions that would roll back the National Environmental Policy Act, or undermine the Clean Water Act or Endangered Species Act.
Specifically, please oppose any amendment or final bill that repeals the 2015 Clean Water Rule. This repeal provision would subvert the entire rulemaking process by disregarding public input, including 1.5 million comments submitted in support of the rule and opposing attempts to roll it back. It would eliminate the vital safeguards of the Clean Water Rule for waters that feed drinking water supplies of 117 million people and protect streams, headwaters, wetlands, and other water bodies that serve as habitat for wildlife, reduce flooding risk, and naturally filter pollution.
Our groups also oppose any efforts to include proposals from the administration’s infrastructure package, or similar measures that threaten our water resources. The administration’s infrastructure scheme would undercut our ability to make sure that infrastructure projects do not destroy or pollute our waterways—including our sources of drinking water and natural infrastructure that protects communities from flood and storm damages. A common theme of the proposals in the administration’s plan is dramatically undermining the environmental review process, avoiding scrutiny of projects that profoundly impact the health of the nation’s waters and the safety of our communities. This is the exact wrong approach. Ensuring meaningful reviews and full evaluation by the most expert and fair decision-makers and members of the public makes projects better and more effective and helps avoid wasteful and destructive actions. The notion that existing law hinders infrastructure development has been repeatedly debunked by independent reviews and federal agency studies. Most often, the source of delay is simply a lack of funding.
Further, we urge you to reject any attempts to eliminate important Clean Water Act safeguards that protect our streams, rivers, and lakes from excessive pesticide pollution. Congress should reject provisions that would allow pesticides to be sprayed into water bodies without any meaningful oversight. There is no need to change these existing, commonsense Clean Water Act protections because the system has been working well since the safeguards were put in place six years ago and alarmist predictions from pesticides manufacturers have proven to be untrue.
As you consider the Water Resources Development Act of 2018 please reject any attempts to attach anti-environmental amendments that would undermine clean water protections and the review process for water resources infrastructure projects. This legislation should not be used to roll back our bedrock environmental laws.
Sincerely,
Alabama River Alliance
Alliance for the Great Lakes
Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments
American Rivers
American Sustainable Business Council
Children’s Environmental Health Network
Citizen’s for Pennsylvania’s Future
Clean Water Action
Conservation Pennsylvania
Earthjustice
Endangered Habitats League ∙
Environmental Advocates of New York
Environmental Law & Policy Center
Freshwater Future
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Mississippi River GreenLatinos
Hip Hop Caucus
Illinois Stewardship Alliance
Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association
League of Conservation Voters
Montana Trout Unlimited
National Medical Association
National Wildlife Federation
Natural Heritage Institute
Natural Resources Council of Maine
Natural Resources Defense Council
Ohio Environmental Council
Policy Link
Puget Soundkeeper Alliance
River Network
Rural Coalition Sierra Club
Smart Growth America
Southern Environmental Law Center
Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia
The Wetlands Initiative
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