FEINGOLD INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO REAFFIRM CLEAN
WATER ACT
Legislation Would End Legal Wrangling Over Intent of 35-Year-Old
Law Protecting Rivers, Streams and Wetlands
July 25, 2007
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) today introduced
the Clean Water Restoration Act to restore the original protections
of our nation’s rivers, streams, and wetlands provided by the
Clean Water Act. Feingold, who was joined by 19 of his colleagues in
introducing the legislation, offered the bill as a result of the Supreme
Court’s decisions in the SWANCC and Rapanos cases, which leave
many of our waters without the protection intended when Congress passed
the Clean Water Act in 1972. Similar legislation was introduced in the
House of Representatives by U.S. Representatives James Oberstar (D-MN),
Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), and John Dingell (D-MI).
“The law Congress passed thirty-five years ago to protect our
waters from pollution has been undermined by the U.S. Supreme Court,”
Feingold said. “Now is not the time for Congress to stand by idly
as the protections of the Clean Water Act are rolled back.”
Feingold’s bill ensures that the Clean Water Act continues to
protect our nation’s waters from pollution, rather than just sustaining
the navigability of some waters. The SWANNC decision, according to EPA
estimates, placed 20 percent of the nation's wetlands outside Alaska
at risk of losing federal protections, while the Rapanos decision rolled
back protections of the sources of drinking water for 110 million Americans.
The Clean Water Act was passed by Congress in 1972 and the U.S. Senate
reconfirmed the broad scope of the law again in 1977 when it rejected—by
a strong, bipartisan vote—a proposal to remove federal protections
from a smaller category of wetlands and other waters.
“This bill simply re-affirms Congress’s intent when it
passed the Clean Water Act,” Feingold said. “It is a straight-forward
proposal to safeguard our waters for generations to come. I hope all
of my colleagues will join me in reaffirming a clean water pledge to
the citizens of the United States.”
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