The Izaak Walton
League of America is blasting the Trump Administration for what it calls
“the first step to roll back the Clean Water Rule, which protects small
streams and wetlands that are vital to the nation.”
“The Izaak Walton
League of America believes the Clean Water Rule is fundamentally sound and
that further delay in restoring protections for streams and wetlands risks
long-term damage to water quality, habitat for fish and wildlife, and our
economy,” the League said in a statement released on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately, by issuing an Executive Order to rescind or revise the Clean
Water Rule, the Trump Administration has set a different course.”
“This effort is
even more troubling because the president directs the Environmental
Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers to consider defining waters
protected by the Clean Water Act based on an extreme minority opinion from
the Supreme Court,” the statement said. “That opinion, authored by the late
Justice Antonin Scalia, rejected the intent of Congress in passing the Clean
Water Act and is unsupported by the overwhelming science on the
interconnected nature of waters. Under this opinion, the Clean Water Act
would not protect small streams, such as headwaters, unless they flow
continuously. Moreover, it would also deny protection for many
wetlands--including prairie potholes critical to migratory waterfowl and
other wildlife--that lack a continuous surface connection to larger waters.”
To keep the
nation’s drinking water resources and economy protected, the League urges,
any revision of the Clean Water Rule must reject Justice Scalia’s definition
of those waters protected by the Clean Water Act. Furthermore, any new rule
must do the following, the League said:
* “Be grounded in
science. The existing rule is supported by more than 1,200 studies
demonstrating the effects of upstream waters on downstream waters.”
* “Effectively
safeguard streams, wetlands, and other waters as required by the Clean Water
Act. The purpose of the Clean Water Act is to improve water quality
nationwide. It is impossible to achieve that goal without protecting streams
from pollution and small wetlands from being drained and filled.”
* “Ensure America’s
outdoor traditions thrive for generations to come. Clean water and abundant
wetlands are essential to hunting and angling. If this critical habitat is
degraded, our hunting and angling traditions--and the $646 billion outdoor
recreation economy--will suffer.”
“It is impossible
to achieve the fundamental purpose of the Clean Water Act--‘to restore and
maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s
waters’--without protecting the waters covered by the Clean Water Rule,
including tributary streams and small wetlands.” the statement said.
“The
administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama rejected using
Justice Scalia’s opinion to define waters covered by the Clean Water Act,”
the statement concluded. “If the Trump Administration bases a new rule on
this opinion, many of the waters important to hunters and anglers and vital
to the outdoor recreation economy would lose Clean Water Act protections. As
the Trump Administration moves forward, the sportsmen and women of the Izaak
Walton League will fight for our most critical natural resource: clean
water.”