Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold on the Administration's Announcement that the EPA Will Abandon Plan to Roll Back Isolated Water Protections December 16, 2003 Washington, D.C. – The Administration announced today that it will not go forward with plans to reduce the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act. The EPA's January 15, 2003, announcement that it would change long-standing isolated waters protection rules and subsequent policy guidance would have left our nation's most vulnerable streams and wetlands unprotected. Feingold spearheaded the effort in the Senate calling on the Administration to not overturn longstanding Clean Water Act protections. U.S. Senator Russ Feingold issued the following statement following the announcement: "I applaud the EPA's announcement that the Administration will not go forward with its plans to reduce the scope of waters protected under the Clean Water Act. For the past 30 years, the Clean Water Act has been critical to reducing water pollution in our nation's lakes, ponds, wetlands, streams, and coastal waters. However, the Administration must still correct the current policy guidance it has issued to federal agencies, which may remove from protection an estimated 20 percent of the nation's wetlands, as well as countless miles of streams across the country."

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