Fingers crossed it won’t be long before the Clean Water Act is able to do its job again and stop pollution in all our major waters – including the Great Lakes and her tributaries – the original spark for the CWA. Today, the Clean Water Restoration Act was approved by the US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and all but one of the Great Lakes Senators on the Committee voted for it with a resounding YES!
For some reason, most likely state politics, Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) voted against the CWRA which was a disappointment for us lake lovers. CWRA is necessary because court decisions made during the GW Bush years weakened CWA and too many of the nation’s water’s and wetlands without protection from polluters.
Thanks are do for Great Lakes Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY) and Arlen Specter (D-PA) for supporting the much needed legislation. And here is the best part – there were two amendments threatening to weaken the bill – one that would exempt pesticides and another that would exempt lead poisoning from shooting ranges – but both failed.
Now the legislation, introduced by Great Lakes Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) will move to the US Senate for a vote and we will need the entire Great Lakes delegation to get behind it.
Related posts:
- Rep. Jim Oberstar: Pump Up the Volume on Clean Water Restoration Act!
- Clean Up the Murky Waters with the Clean Water Restoration Act
- Good and Evil in the Great Lakes Clean Water Debate
- The Failure of the Guardians and Enforcers of the Clean Water Act
- Stand Up for Clean Water Today!