President:
Denise Woods

Vice President:
Mary Lohman

Exec. Secretary:
Guy Marentettte

Rec. Secretary:
Janet Dando

Treasurer:
Bobbie Carper

Assistant Treasurer:
Jim Laurenson

Members-at-Large:
Nancy Clem
Sherrie Weitzenhoff
Todd Schneider

Communications:
Ingrid Kunstel

Outreach:
Mary Starbuck

Issues & Education:
Steve Cochran

Leadership Development:
John Cross

Fundraising:
Richard King

May 1, 2009

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES TEAM

PROTECT OUR CLEAN WATER

ACTION

Call Ohio Senator George Voinovich and ask him to support the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2009.  The bill number is S. 787

ISSUE

In 1972, the Clean Water Act was passed,with wide bipartisan and public support, making rivers, streams, wetlands, lakes, and coastal waters safe for fishing, swimming and other recreation, suitable for our drinking water supply and agricultural and industrial uses, and available for wildlife and fish habitat. 

 In 2001, however, the activist Republican justices on the Supreme Court narrowly interpreted the Clean Water Act protections to apply only to "navigable" waters, rivers and lakes deep enough to support boat traffic.  This ruling removed many bodies of water from the protection of the Clean Water Act and these waters have been disturbed, polluted, or destroyed by developers at an alarming rate. 

According to our new EPA Director, Lisa Jackson, the system of protections on which we had come to depend is now paralyzed.  The Clean Water Restoration Act will solve this problem by redefining the bodies of water originally covered by the Clean Water Act and restoring protections to smaller rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands crucial to the quality of our water supply. 

The opposition is attempting to create the impression that this bill greatly expands the powers of the federal government over every puddle and rivulet, choking off appropriate development, and crippling our economy.  The Republican Ranking Minority Member on the committee, the notorious James Inhofe, has even argued that every depression in the front lawn of city homes could be governed by this law, but in fact, the bill explicitly limits regulation to only those bodies of water that had been protected prior to the 2001 Supreme Court decision.  Corporations and developers are spending millions to defeat this bill, because taking responsibility for safeguarding clean water cuts into company profits.  This bill is currently in the Senate Committee on the Environment, on which our Senator Voinovich sits.  His is one of three crucial votes for the passage of this bill.  Our Senator Sherrod Brown is a co-sponsor of the bill.