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

Submit a public comment: Stop the Water Polluter Loophole

Scott Pruitt wants to put our drinking water at risk -- again. He wants to create a giant loophole that will let polluters get away with dumping pollution into groundwater that eventually flows into lakes, rivers, and bays.

I wish I was making this up.

Right now we can hold polluters accountable when chemicals or other pollutants they dump in groundwater flow into surface waters through the Clean Water Act. Across the country, fossil fuel companies, petroleum pipeline companies, and coal-burning utilities have been facing liability in courts for polluting water with gasoline, diesel, and heavy metals—and losing case after case. This is the way it should be -- you pollute our water, we hold you accountable.

But these companies don't like this -- so they are asking Scott Pruitt to help them. And, unsurprisingly, he is. He wants to weaken clean water protections by changing EPA's longstanding position that pollution discharged into groundwater that flows into surface water requires a water pollution permit. EPA and states have required permits for this type of pollution for decades.

Tell him not to rollback any more safeguards for clean water.

CLICK HERE to submit a public comment today and tell EPA to immediately withdraw its ridiculous scheme and instead work to protect communities from harmful water pollution. 

*Remember to personalize it a bit - so they don't have the excuse to throw your comment out as a form letter. 

It doesn’t make 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. Not only is it illegal for polluters to dump chemicals or other pollutants into groundwater that is connected to a river or stream without a permit, EPA has no authority to create a polluter loophole that does not exist in the language of the Clean Water Act. Congress included no such exemption because in order to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters,” all connected waters must be protected from harmful pollution.

Creating a new polluter loophole undermines EPA’s mission to protect public health and the environment and would leave a huge gap in water protections, leaving our most valuable resource without protection.

Tell EPA to reject this plan to give polluters a free pass to destroy our water. Take action today!

- Jennifer Peters, National Water Programs Director

More information on Scott Pruitt:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DSJv72NXyA