Alex Silva Clean Water Act Positional Essay
Introduction
The ongoing debate within the Clean Water Act (CWA) can be narrowed down to the Clean Water Rule (CWR), as it makes amendments to the Act and implements a different way of thinking about our water supply. The Clean Water Act was produced as a means for the EPA to implement pollution control programs alongside setting water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters. This definition of what is to be considered “surface water” or as it is put in the CWA, the “waters of the United States, is the key point to the CWR that many states and the people behind them oppose. This opposition created the need for a court petition that stayed the rule change, halting any …show more content…
The biggest issue that this Rule is facing is the opposition of the fossil fuel industry, farmers, real estate developers, and even small business groups. Other interest groups include mining companies, pesticide companies, and even golf course operators, most of which have rarely before fought so whole-heartedly against an environmental regulation. For them, the rules gives too much control over even the smallest bodies of water. What isn’t understood by any of these opposing groups is that we need clean water, not only for drinking but also for clean food and a healthier ecosystem. Science and politics don’t mesh well together because no matter how clear your evidence and statements are and regardless of how you display that to the general public, it is difficult to really lead everyone to a general consensus. The EPA has even gone so far as to lay out what the CWR doesn’t do, which includes changing any private property rights, regulate most ditches, or add any new requirements for agriculture, just to name a few (4EPA, 2015). The entire fight has been brought into politics that has “muddied the waters”, if you will, of the true meaning behind the CWR and the EPA as a whole. To protect the waters of these United States of America and to really keep them as clean as possible in hopes of sharing the benefit of healthy waterways across the nation. Only constant, enforced, federal standards covering the entire tributary system of these defined “navigable waters” can protect ecosystems and downstream throughout the nation, which is required by the proposed
Introduction
The ongoing debate within the Clean Water Act (CWA) can be narrowed down to the Clean Water Rule (CWR), as it makes amendments to the Act and implements a different way of thinking about our water supply. The Clean Water Act was produced as a means for the EPA to implement pollution control programs alongside setting water quality standards for all contaminants in surface waters. This definition of what is to be considered “surface water” or as it is put in the CWA, the “waters of the United States, is the key point to the CWR that many states and the people behind them oppose. This opposition created the need for a court petition that stayed the rule change, halting any …show more content…
The biggest issue that this Rule is facing is the opposition of the fossil fuel industry, farmers, real estate developers, and even small business groups. Other interest groups include mining companies, pesticide companies, and even golf course operators, most of which have rarely before fought so whole-heartedly against an environmental regulation. For them, the rules gives too much control over even the smallest bodies of water. What isn’t understood by any of these opposing groups is that we need clean water, not only for drinking but also for clean food and a healthier ecosystem. Science and politics don’t mesh well together because no matter how clear your evidence and statements are and regardless of how you display that to the general public, it is difficult to really lead everyone to a general consensus. The EPA has even gone so far as to lay out what the CWR doesn’t do, which includes changing any private property rights, regulate most ditches, or add any new requirements for agriculture, just to name a few (4EPA, 2015). The entire fight has been brought into politics that has “muddied the waters”, if you will, of the true meaning behind the CWR and the EPA as a whole. To protect the waters of these United States of America and to really keep them as clean as possible in hopes of sharing the benefit of healthy waterways across the nation. Only constant, enforced, federal standards covering the entire tributary system of these defined “navigable waters” can protect ecosystems and downstream throughout the nation, which is required by the proposed