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July 17, 2001
Portland, Oregon

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS DENOUNCE ADMINISTRATION'S ATTACK ON CLEAN WATER RULES

          Environmental groups denounced a court action by the Bush Administration Monday as a blatant attempt to help industry weaken Clean Water Act rules put in place by the Clinton Administration. The rules govern the Nation's water pollution clean-up program. The Administration's lawyers asked a federal court to delay a lawsuit brought by industries against the rule because the Administration plans a series of other actions to prevent its implementation.
          "This is the first of several steps in which the Bush Administration plans a huge retreat from the new Clean Water rules developed by EPA under Clinton," said Nina Bell, Executive Director of Northwest Environmental Advocates (NWEA). "Clean water is the number one environmental priority of the American public. But the Bush Administration appears to place a higher priority on keeping polluters happy . Nowhere will this be more evident than the planned destruction of this rule," she added.
          The rule, which has been challenged by a large number of industry groups, set out how a 1972 Clean Water Act requirement to develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) would be used to clean up the nation's most polluted waters. The new rules were based on the input of a federal advisory committee made up of representatives of all major interest groups. The Committee met for two years and produced over 150 unanimous recommendations. EPA received over 34,000 comments on the rule before it was finalized in July, 2000.
        Rick Parrish, Senior Attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) said, "Today's court action sets in motion the Administration's plan to weaken this essential water pollution clean-up program. It is a major environmental and public health setback for the American people, similar to recent actions rolling back regulations on arsenic limits in drinking water, mining restrictions, and national forest protections."
          A TMDL determines the amount of pollution safe for people, fish, and wildlife for each waterbody and divides the responsibility for reducing pollution between different sources.
          "Nearly 30 years after Congress passed the Clean Water Act, the Bush Administration is weakening a key program to clean up the unsafe pollution levels that plague nearly half the Nation's waters," said Tim Eichenberg, Program Counsel for The Ocean Conservancy. "Year after year, public health and the environment are threatened due to waters that are unsafe for people and for aquatic life. It is clear that a change is needed."
          Across the country over 300,000 miles of river and shoreline and 5 million acres of lakes are affected by the TMDL program. "Restoration will take far longer under any weaker regime proposed by the Bush Administration," according to Parrish.
          Environmental representatives said that the Bush Administration will weaken the clean water rules in a series of steps, rather than in one outright action, because it wants to avoid public controversy. "This will be as close to a stealth attack as the Administration can make it," said Bell. "But they are determined to continue delivering dirty water to Americans," she added.
          EPA has planned several steps, starting with today's court filing. Within two weeks the agency will issue a proposed rule to postpone the effective date of the Clinton TMDL rule. Then, at some later date, EPA could issue a new proposal or completely rescind the rule.
          NWEA, SELC, and The Ocean Conservancy are among many environmental groups that are parties to the lawsuits filed by the American Farm Bureau, American Forest & Paper Association, and other groups against EPA in the federal Court of Appeals in the D.C. Circuit.

Related information

Federal Water Cleanup Project Delayed - Seattle P-I
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/national/31529_water17.shtml

EPA will delay guidelines on water pollution Oregonian
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/news/oregonian/wr_32water17.frame

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