For Immediate Release
Brian Willis, 202.253.7486, Brian.Willis@sierraclub.org
American Communities Cannot Delay Having Access to Clean Water
WASHINGTON - The Office of Budget and Management recklessly suspended the implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2015 Clean Water Rule today, delaying it by at least two years. The Clean Water Rule, also known as the “Waters of the United States Rule”, provides vital clean water protections against dangerous pollution contaminating America’s waterways and drinking water supplies.
It was created after the EPA held more than 400 meetings with stakeholder groups across the country and published a combination of more than 1,200 studies in peer-reviewed scientific publications. The rule’s strong grounding in the Clean Water Act and reliance on the significant scientific evidence showed the need for strong and clear protections against pollution in America’s rivers, lakes, and waterways to protect families from dangerous toxins in their water.
In response, Dalal Aboulhosn, Deputy Legislative Director for Land and Water, released the following statement:
“This reckless decision by the Trump Administration to suspend the implementation of the Clean Water Rule will put the drinking water for one in three Americans in danger, all so Trump and Scott Pruitt continue to pander to polluters intent on spewing their noxious waste into America’s waterways without accountability.
“Communities across our country can’t just “suspend” their need for clean water anymore than they can suspend their need for the sun to come up, which makes this ridiculous giveaway to polluters all the more galling. We will fight this despicable action today with all the resources we have and continue to fight for clean water protections across America.”
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The Sierra Club is the oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892 in San Francisco, California by the well-known conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president. The Sierra Club has hundreds of thousands of members in chapters located throughout the US, and is affiliated with Sierra Club Canada.
