Send a Public Comment to EPA: No Water Polluter Loophole

EPA wants to make it easier for polluters to poison our nation’s water. Help us stop the latest assault on our water and health!

Administrator Andrew Wheeler and Trump's EPA have a complete disregard for our water. The latest assault comes on the heels of the Dirty Water Rule and is another handout to polluting industries.

On Monday, April 15, 2019, EPA announced that it would not protect surface waters contaminated with pollution that first moves through groundwater. This is a complete reversal from how EPA and states have acted in the past. The agency has required permits for this type of pollution for decades and it’s reckless to reverse course now.

It makes no sense for the Clean Water Act to cover pollution dumped from a pipe into a river, but not pollution that flows through groundwater into that same river.

Pollution from livestock feedlots, coal ash impoundments, sewage injection wells, pipelines, and other industrial sources can all enter surface waters by way of groundwater first. We can’t protect our surface waters if we allow them to become contaminated by nearby polluted groundwater. This decision ignores the fact EPA has required permits for this type of pollution for decades. And less than three years ago EPA said sewage injected in a well that reaches the ocean through groundwater requires a Clean Water Act permit.

Click here to submit a comment through Clean Water Action here. 

Please, consider personalizing the sample message below by following this link. 

Send to: Administrator Wheeler, Environmental Protection Agency 

Subject: Re: Docket ID No. EPA- HQ-OW-2019-0166

Dear Administrator Wheeler,

I strongly oppose the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision not to protect surface waters contaminated with pollution that first moves through groundwater. EPA and states have required permits for this type of pollution for decades and it’s reckless to reverse course now. It makes no sense for the Clean Water Act to cover pollution dumped from a pipe into a river, but not pollution that flows through groundwater into that same river. 

Your decision is nothing more than a handout to heavy polluting industries and will create a dangerous new loophole in the Clean Water Act. EPA must continue to hold industries accountable for dumping chemicals and other pollutants into groundwater that contaminates our nation’s rivers, lakes, and bays.

Public Comment period ends in June 7, 2019. 

Submit a formal public comment here

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

SUBMIT A COMMENT: STOP THE DIRTY POWER SCAM

The Trump administration’s “Dirty Power Scam” is a dire threat to everyone’s right to clean air and a healthy environment. This thinly veiled attempt to dismantle President Obama’s Clean Power Plan ignores settled climate and health science and eviscerates the first limits on carbon pollution from existing fossil-fueled power plants.

We only have until October 31 to submit comments on this outrageous proposal. Tell the EPA to stop the Dirty Power Scam.

The administration’s own analysis found that the Clean Power Plan could prevent as many as 4,500 early deaths each year by 2030 and provide up to $54 billion in health and climate benefits. It also encourages investment in cleaner, safer energy sources like wind and solar, which already employ three times as many Americans as every fossil fuel industry combined.

Despite overwhelming evidence of the devastating effects of burning fossil fuels, and broad public support for the Clean Power Plan, Donald Trump and Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler are attempting to turn back the clock on its protections. Instead of safeguarding our health, they want to protect corporate polluters.

Time is running out to take meaningful action on climate change. For the sake of our planet, and for this and future generations, we must stop Trump and Wheeler from overturning the Clean Power Plan.

It’s time to mobilize to stop this giveaway to Trump’s greedy dirty industry allies. Tell the EPA we want clean, renewable energy that will help stop climate change, not the Dirty Power Scam.

- Earth Justice 

CLICK HERE TO SEND THE COMMENT BELOW

(Please, add a personalized paragraph so they don't disregard it as a form letter.) 

Dear Environmental Protection Agency,

I urge you to reject the Dirty Power Scam -- the Trump administration’s proposal to replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan with a scheme that benefits big polluters. Instead of taking the lead on clean energy solutions and combating climate change, the United States has been lagging behind, and worse, is now signaling an about-face. This is unacceptable. 

As you know, the Clean Power Plan placed the first limits on the carbon pollution responsible for climate change from the electric power sector – one of the worst contributors. Forgoing carbon limits puts public health at risk and puts the U.S. economy behind other nations that are embracing clean energy alternatives. Your own estimates indicate that the plan will prevent 4,500 early deaths each year by 2030 and generate $54 billion in climate and health benefits. 

Fighting climate change, improving public health, and boosting our economy go hand in hand. The Dirty Power Scam would do nothing to solve climate change: It’s nothing more than an ill-fated and desperate attempt to bailout greedy corporate polluters. 

Again, I urge you to shelve the Dirty Power Scam or any other effort that seeks to backtrack on or stall the Clean Power Plan. Thank you for considering my views.

We only have until October 31 to submit comments on this outrageous proposal. Tell the EPA to stop the Dirty Power Scam.

Tell the EPA: Don't devalue the human health aspect of the Mercury Rule to gut environmental rules

Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin produced by burning coal. It contaminates the fish we eat and causes brain damage and reduced IQs in infants and small children.

The petition to the EPA reads: "Don't devalue human health to gut rules on mercury or other air pollutants. Regulators must consider all benefits of a rule, including co-benefits, when protecting our health and environment." Add your name:

To make it easier to gut environmental regulations, the Trump administration has a new plan: It wants to change how the government values human health. By changing the cost-benefit analysis of air pollution rules to ignore the lives the rules will save, Trump's EPA will open the door to repealing them – and make it far harder to pass environmental protections in the future. Devaluing human health is a grotesque strategy with predictable consequences: More people will get sick or die. The EPA started by proposing to gut an important rule on mercury, but the consequences of changing its calculations could fundamentally change how we can protect ourselves and the environment. Tell Trump's EPA: Do not devalue human health in order to weaken rules on mercury and other air pollutants. Click here to sign the petition. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin produced by burning coal. It contaminates the fish we eat and causes brain damage and reduced IQs in infants and small children.1 A 2011 Obama administration rule forced power plants to substantially reduce mercury emissions.2 Now Trump wants to reverse the rule by deciding that environmental regulators must ignore "co-benefits," all of the extra benefits from an environmental rule beyond its narrow stated purpose.3 Because the harms of mercury are hard to calculate, the Obama administration justified the rule partly by considering all the lives and money saved because of the rule's other benefits – reducing air particulates and helping the climate by closing down coal plants. Trump wants to discount these benefits completely. The Trump administration's apathy to human health should not be surprising. Andrew Wheeler, the new head of Trump's EPA, is a former coal lobbyist for one of the nation's largest coal companies, Murray Energy. Wheeler's former boss, CEO Robert Murray, was a major donor to Trump’s inauguration fund, and he personally requested the rollback of the mercury rule.4 Gutting the mercury rule is a gift to the coal industry, and it comes at the expense of children's brains. We must loudly oppose this proposal and any other attempt at changing the cost-benefit analysis of rules that discount their full impact on human health. Tell Trump's EPA: Do not devalue human health in order to weaken rules on mercury and other air pollutants. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/mercury?t=5&akid=30378%2E3130208%2EpNgTIB - Brandy Doyle, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Brad Plumer, "How to tally up the benefits from EPA’s mercury rule," The Washington Post, Dec. 22, 2011. Ibid. Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis, "In rollback of mercury rule, Trump could revamp how government values human health," The Washington Post, Oct. 1, 2018. Coral Davenport, "Trump Administration Prepares a Major Weakening of Mercury Emissions Rules," The New York Times, Sept. 30, 2018.