This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience while browsing it. By clicking 'Got It' you're accepting these terms.
Most recent
Trending
Top Videos
The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!
House Subcommittee Votes to Gut Clean Water Act Protections
Environment America
On June 20, the House Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Subcommittee passed the Interior and Environment Appropriations bill. The bill would gut critical funding for environmental programs, and would furthermore block the Obama administration from finalizing and implementing proposed guidelines to restore Clean Water Act protections to many of America’s rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands. The proposed guidelines clarify protection for nearly 60 percent of streams, 20 million acres of wetlands and 117 million Americans’ drinking water—all of which has been inadequately protected for more than a decade thanks to two polluter-driven Supreme Court decisions. The committee also slashed the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program that provides critical resources for protecting national parks, wildlife refuges and local recreation areas, to $66 million—down $323 million from last year’s budget.
Shelley Vinyard, clean water advocate for Environment America said:
“This bill is a shameful attempt to put politics before clean water protections. Poll after poll shows that the American public overwhelmingly supports clean water protections, and yet this subcommittee approved a bill that would block a major clean water victory that would have been the biggest step forward for America’s waterways in more than a decade.
“From the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, we all love and depend on our waterways. Yet just as summer heats up and families flock to their favorite waterways, some in Congress want to give polluters a free pass to pollute these places and threaten the quality of our drinking water.
“We applaud the members of Congress who stood up for clean water today, and are disappointed with those who sided with big polluters and voted for this bill. We are counting on the full House to stand with the public and reject this dirty water bill.”
Visit EcoWatch's CLEAN WATER ACT page for more related news on this topic.
EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
The Centers for Disease Control has emphasized that washing hands with soap and water is one of the most effective measures we can take in preventing the spread of COVID-19. However, millions of Americans in some of the most vulnerable communities face the prospect of having their water shut off during the lockdowns, according to The Guardian.
Aerial photos of the Sierra Nevada — the long mountain range stretching down the spine of California — showed rust-colored swathes following the state's record-breaking five-year drought that ended in 2016. The 100 million dead trees were one of the most visible examples of the ecological toll the drought had wrought.
Now, a few years later, we're starting to learn about how smaller, less noticeable species were affected.
Natthawat / Moment / Getty Images
Disinfectants and cleaners claiming to sanitize against the novel coronavirus have started to flood the market, raising concerns for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which threatened legal recourse against retailers selling unregistered products, according to The New York Times.
The global coronavirus pandemic has thrown our daily routine into disarray. Billions are housebound, social contact is off-limits and an invisible virus makes up look at the outside world with suspicion. No surprise, then, that sustainability and the climate movement aren't exactly a priority for many these days.
Trending
Cookbook Offers Plant-Based Recipes Inspired by Traditional Mexican and Central American Cuisine
By Molly Matthews Multedo
Livestock farming contributes to global warming, so eating less meat can be better for the climate.