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
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
By Jason Bittel
High up in the mountains of Montana's Glacier National Park, there are two species of insect that only a fly fishermen or entomologist would probably recognize. Known as stoneflies, these aquatic bugs are similar to dragonflies and mayflies in that they spend part of their lives underwater before emerging onto the land, where they transform into winged adults less than a half inch long. However, unlike those other species, stoneflies do their thing only where cold, clean waters flow.
By Bob Curley
- The new chicken sandwiches at McDonald's, Popeyes, and Chick-fil-A all contain the MSG flavor enhancement chemical.
- Experts say MSG can enhance the so-called umami flavor of a food.
- The ingredient is found in everything from Chinese food and pizza to prepackaged sandwiches and table sauces.
McDonald's wants to get in on the chicken sandwich war currently being waged between Popeyes and Chick-fil-A.
'We Have So Much More to Do': Youth Climate Activists Declare as Global Elite Close Out Davos Forum
By Andrea Germanos
Youth climate activists marched through the streets of Davos, Switzerland Friday as the World Economic Forum wrapped up in a Fridays for Future demonstration underscoring their demand that the global elite act swiftly to tackle the climate emergency.
By Tim Radford
The year is less than four weeks old, but scientists already know that carbon dioxide emissions will continue to head upwards — as they have every year since measurements began — leading to a continuation of the Earth's rising heat.
Trending
By Katey Davidson
Each year, an estimated 600 million people worldwide experience a foodborne illness.
While there are many causes, a major and preventable one is cross-contamination.