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PennEnvironment advocates were quick to act after the Bush administration
pushed forward a proposal that threatens the environment and public
health by dramatically weakening the federal Clean Water Act.
The White House proposal will allow sewage treatment facilities
to dump inadequately treated sewage into Pennsylvania’s rivers and
streams, bypassing critical treatment—even if the facility has the
capability to fully treat the sewage. If implemented, this proposal
means that bacteria, parasites, worms and viruses found in sewage
could end up in the water we use for drinking, fishing and boating.
This is on top of repeated proposals by the Bush administration
to cut funding for sewer and drinking water infrastructure repair.
Fortunately, concerned legislators in Congress have introduced a
bill, the “Save Our Waters from Sewage Act,” to stop the sewage
dumping rule from being implemented.
PennEnvironment’s staff have been working to persuade the state’s
congressional delegation to champion the “Save Our Waters” proposal.
In recent weeks, PennEnvironment staff traveled to Washington, D.C.,
to make their case to the state’s congressional delegation, and
our hard work paid off. Partially due to our advocacy, Pennsylvania
has a broad, bi-partisan coalition of legislators sponsoring the
bill, including Pennsylvania Reps. Phil English, Michael Fitzpatrick,
Todd Platts, Allyson Schwartz and Curt Weldon.
In March, PennEnvironment released a new report
showing that the Bush administration’s “Clear Skies” proposal would
allow nearly 900 industrial facilities in Pennsylvania to violate
current federal clean air rules that require reductions of dangerous
pollutants, including arsenic, benzene and formaldehyde. All of
these are known to cause cancer, birth defects and other serious
health problems.
According to PennEnvironment’s report, the industries that would
be let off the hook by the President’s proposal emitted more than
62 million pounds of toxic air pollutants into Pennsylvania’s air
in 2002.
In addition to this loophole, the bill would delay Clean Air Act
reductions in soot and smog-forming pollutants; force residents
of heavily-polluted areas to wait longer for clean air than under
current law; and repeal protections that require every power plant
to reduce mercury to the maximum extent possible (about 90 percent)
by 2008.
Fortunately, advocacy by groups like PennEnvironment, supported
by mounting public concern and outcry, helped to convince the Senate
Environmental Committee to vote down the “Clear Skies” proposal
on March 9th. Still, PennEnvironment’s staff are confident that
special interests and their allies in Congress will attempt to push
this anti-environmental proposal in future months.
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