Tell the EPA: Save the Clean Water Rule

The petition to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler reads: "The EPA's proposal to drastically weaken Clean Water Act protections is unacceptable. Abandon this proposed rollback and return to the 2015 Clean Water Rule, which helped protect drinking water sources for 117 million Americans." Add your name: Wheeler wants to get rid of a rule that helps protect the drinking water for 117 million Americans.1 Under his leadership, the EPA published a proposal to replace the Obama-era Clean Water Rule with the aptly named Dirty Water Rule, a far weaker alternative.Republicans in Washington may not care much about the environment, but you would think that anyone would want to protect their own drinking water. But apparently for Andrew Wheeler, Trump's EPA chief, helping polluters profit is a higher priority. But the proposed rule isn't law yet. The EPA is taking comments on the Dirty Water Rule until April 15. Sign the petition now and CREDO will file a comment on your behalf. Tell the EPA: Abandon the Dirty Water Rule and protect our waterways and streams. Click here to sign the petition. From the Great Lakes to Puget Sound to rivers across the South, America's waterways are at risk. Our rivers, lakes and bays depend on the streams that feed them and wetlands that filter out pollutants. But the Trump EPA rule change would remove Clean Water Act protections for thousands of streams and wetlands.2 And it could get even worse: One part of the rule could rip protections from nearly 60% of our nation's streams.3 The EPA's reckless rule change is not supported by scientific evidence. It is being promoted and rushed through the rulemaking process with little public input. But polluters have been pushing this for years, and they are thrilled. We need to stand up for clean water and make sure that the EPA hears loud and clear that getting rid of the Clean Water Rule is unacceptable. Tell the EPA: Abandon the Dirty Water Rule and protect our waterways and streams. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/dirty-water-rule?t=9&akid=32211%2E3130208%2ELEih_V, - Brandy Doyle, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Environmental Protection Agency, "Geographic Information Systems Analysis of the Surface Drinking Water Provided by Intermittent, Ephemeral and Headwater Streams in the U.S." July 2009. Nathan Rott, "Trump EPA Proposes Major Rollback Of Federal Water Protections," NPR, Dec. 11, 2018.

Tell Senators to oppose Wheeler for the EPA

This week, President Trump officially nominated Andrew Wheeler to be the Administrator or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Senate Republicans are trying to rush a hearing on his nomination next week even though the federal government, including the EPA, is still shutdown.

As Acting Administrator, Wheeler has already done the bidding of corporate polluters, proposing new rules that allow cars, trucks, power plants, and industrial facilities to emit more pollution and. We can't let Wheeler's nomination coast through, especially when the government is shutdown, and Superfund sites go uncleaned, and our air and water is at risk.

Tell your senators to oppose Andrew Wheeler's nomination to Administrator of the EPA!

What has Wheeler done as Acting Administrator? He gutted the coal ash rule, clean car standards, methane standards, and is putting forward a Dirty Power Plan that the EPA's own analysis says will cause an additional 1,400 deaths each year due to more pollution. 

He is also pushing plans to ruin the lifesaving Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, opening the door to more toxic mercury and particulate matter pollution from coal plants and jeopardizing the health of women and children. Wheeler';s proposal ignores the massive reductions in toxic pollution brought by these standards and the up to 11,000 lives saved and approximately 130,000 asthma attacks avoided per year as a result of this protection.

Furthermore, Wheeler is pushing to redefine which U.S. waterways are covered by the Clean Water Act, putting drinking water for one in three Americans at risk.

Andrew Wheeler is clearly unfit to oversee the agency that was created to protect our air, water, and climate. We must oppose his nomination.

Wheeler shows the same signs of ethical misconduct as Scott Pruitt, disregarding ethics and conflict of interest concerns while meeting with big polluters and pushing their dirty policies at the expense of our health and environment. As if that weren't enough, Wheeler, like his ousted predecessor, Pruitt, has seen his share of scandal. Wheeler has shared and liked racist posts on social media and engaged with right-wing trolls and conspiracy theorists. 

Senate Republicans confirming Andrew Wheeler to lead the EPA is just like putting the Hamburglar in charge of McDonald's, because he will do nothing to protect the health of the public and everything to enrich corporate polluters.

We can't let a coal lobbyist doing the bidding of corporate polluters lead the EPA.Tell your senators to oppose his nomination!

https://act.sierraclub.org/actions/National?actionId=AR0132715&id=7010Z000001qlwKQAQ&data=c6354268c665c3877411dba30438f5e859a716ec550e121d5d9af5f70f027eae0d96cbf4fe24cae443218f87a7686f9b&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sierraclub&utm_campaign=resist

- Melinda Pierce, Sierra Club