By Mary Kerr 202-225-6260
On Wednesday, October 15, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will hold a hearing on “The Clean Water Act after 37 Years: Recommitting to Protection of the Nation’s Waters.” At the hearing, which comes three days before the 37th anniversary of the enactment of the Clean Water Act, the T&I Committee will examine the failure of the Bush Administration and the then-Republican-controlled Congress to improve the overall implementation and enforcement of the Clean Water Act.
According to Rep. James L. Oberstar (Minn.), Committee Chairman, the hearing will focus on concerns with the lack of progress by the Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies in meeting the goals of “fishable and swimmable waters” called for in the Clean Water Act. Oberstar noted that the success of the Clean Water Act is based on the presence of three components: clear national standards for point source pollution, adequate funding for technologies and program operation, and strong enforcement to ensure consistent implementation of the Act.
“All three factors are necessary to protect the nation’s waters, and generally speaking, since the Clean Water Act was enacted, federal and state governments actively supported all three legs of the stool. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration failed to issue sufficient national standards through regulation, slashed funding for the Clean Water program, and undermined enforcement procedures against polluters,” said Oberstar. “Our committee has already looked at the standards and funding failures during the past decade, and now we turn to the Bush Administration’s decision to cut the enforcement leg off of the stool and how this has eviscerated Congress’ ability to provide proper oversight of the Clean Water program.”
Oberstar has issued a series of reports over the past seven years which have documented a slight but steady reversal of efforts to clean up the nation’s waters.
“Americans expect that their rivers and streams will be clean, that those granted responsibility for implementing and enforcing the law will do so, and that polluters will be prevented from contaminating our nation’s waters and threatening public health. However, past success in controlling permitted sources of pollution may have been reversed, in part, because of the lack of effectiveness and transparency of Clean Water Act enforcement efforts,” Oberstar said. “I am very concerned that eight years of neglect of the Clean Water enforcement program has undermined public confidence in our ability to protect water quality and the health of our citizens and natural environment.”
A recent New York Times article, “Toxic Waters: Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering,” investigated the steady rise in violations of the Clean Water Act and the lack of prosecution of the vast majority of polluters.
“Finally, the Times’s research shows that fewer than three percent of Clean Water Act violations resulted in fines or other significant punishments by state officials. And the E.P.A. has often declined to prosecute polluters or force states to strengthen their enforcement by threatening to withhold federal money or take away powers the agency has delegated to state officials.” (New York Times, September 13, 2009)
In the same article, Oberstar blasted the government’s failure to sustain a credible Clean Water Act enforcement program.
“’I don’t think anyone realized how bad things have become. . . .the E.P.A. and states have completely dropped the ball,’ he said. ‘Without oversight and enforcement, companies will use our lakes and rivers as dumping grounds — and that’s exactly what is apparently going on.’” (New York Times, September 13, 2009)
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The hearing, “The Clean Water Act after 37 Years: Recommitting to the Protection of the Nation's Waters” is set for Thursday, October 15, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C.
It will also be webcast live and later archived at: transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingDetail.aspx
