The Clean Water Protection Act

The Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 1310) is a bill in the US House of Representatives which will sharply reduce mountaintop removal coal mining, protect clean drinking water for many of our nation's cities. It will protect the quality of life for Appalachian coalfield residents who face frequent catastrophic flooding and pollution or loss of drinking water as a result of mountaintop removal coal mining.

From the east coast, to the west coast, to the states where it's taking place, Americans want an end to mountaintop removal coal mining. Building on that momentum, and with a friendlier administration and Congress, we have a real chance to pass the Clean Water Protection Act in the 111th Congress. Please contact your representative today and ask them to become a cosponsor!

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163	cosponsors, and counting...

Congress at a Glance

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Connections to coal

Track campaign contributions from the coal industry to federal officials.

The most effective way to build support for the Clean Water Protection Act is by sending a hand written, supportive letter to your Representative in the House. For the fastest response to your letter, we recommend sending it to a district office.

Although it's less effective, you can also use our free automated dialing tool to call their office, or send them an email with our new webform.

Regardless of how you contact your Representative, here are some important points to make:

The Clean Water Act is meant to protect, not bury, our rivers and streams.
To date, 500 of the world's most ancient mountains have been leveled.
EPA estimates that by 2010 a total of 1.4 millions acres of Appalachia's mountains will have been destroyed.
Across the Appalachian coalfields, more than 2,000 miles of streams are now buried and destroyed by mountaintop removal.
The Clean Water Protection Act is necessary to protect clean drinking water for many of our nation's cities.
The Clean Water Protection Act is also necessary to protect the quality of life and economic security for Appalachian coalfield residents who face frequent catastrophic flooding, pollution, and loss of drinking water as a result of mountaintop removal.

Resources

In-depth

In 1977, The Clean Water Act was enacted by Congress to "restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters." For 25 years, the Clean Water Act (CWA) allowed for the granting of permits to place "fill material" into waters of the United States, provided that the primary purpose of the "filling" was not for waste disposal. As such, the CWA prohibited mountaintop removal operations from using the nation's waterways as waste disposal sites.

That changed in 2002, when the Army Corps of Engineers, under the direction of the Bush administration and without congressional approval, altered its longstanding definition of "fill material" to include mining waste. This change accelerated the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining and the destruction of more than 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams. More than 400,000 acres in West Virginia alone have been leveled, and the EPA Estimates that by the end of the decade a total of 1.4 million acres of Appalachia's mountains and hardwood forests will be destroyed by mountain removal mining, which is an area the size of of Delaware.

In May of 2002, in response to the Army Corps' rule change, The Clean Water Protection Act was introduced into the House of Representatives by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) and Christopher Shays (R-CT). Since then, it's enjoyed a groundswell of bi-partisan support.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. of Waterkeeper Alliance put it succinctly:

"The Clean Water Protection Act is the first broad Congressional initiative aimed at reversing the Bush Administration's eight-year effort to savage our national waterways and the popular laws that protect them."

On May 4, 2007, the Clean Water Protection Act was introduced in to the 110th Congress with 55 original cosponsors. Because Representatives from around the country received thousands of letters from people like you, it ended last session with a record 153 bipartisan cosponsors. On March 4th 2009, Congressman Frank Pallone (NJ), Congressman John Yarmuth (KY), and Congressman Dave Reichert (WA) introduced H.R. 1310 with 117 original cosponsors in the 111th Congress; more than twice the number of original cosponsors at the beginning of last session! It currently has 163 cosponsors.

For more information contact Appalachian Voices at 828-262-1500 or www.appvoices.org.

The Clean Water Protection Act - H.R. 1310

163 cosponsors in the 111th Congress (2009 - 2010) as of February 3, 2010

Congress-person

State

District

Congress-person

State

District

Raul M. Grijalva

Betty McCollum

Gabrielle Giffords

Keith Ellison

Doris O. Matsui

Wm. Lacy Clay

Lynn C. Woolsey

Russ Carnahan

George Miller

Emanuel Cleaver

Barbara Lee

G. K. Butterfield

Ellen O. Tauscher

David E. Price

Jerry McNerney

Larry Kissell

Jackie Speier

Heath Shuler

Fortney Pete Stark

Melvin L. Watt

Anna G. Eshoo

Brad Miller

Michael M. Honda

Carol Shea-Porter

Zoe Lofgren

Paul W. Hodes

Sam Farr

Robert E. Andrews

Lois Capps

Christopher H. Smith

Brad Sherman

Frank Pallone

Howard L. Berman

Leonard Lance

Adam B. Schiff

Bill Pascrell

Henry A. Waxman

Steven R. Rothman

Judy Chu

Donald M. Payne

Diane E. Watson

Rush D. Holt

Lucille Roybal-Allard

Albio Sires

Maxine Waters

Timothy H. Bishop

Jane Harman

Steve Israel

Laura Richardson

Carolyn McCarthy

Grace F. Napolitano

Gary L. Ackerman

Linda T. Sanchez

Joseph Crowley

Loretta Sanchez

Jerrold Nadler

Bob Filner

Anthony D. Weiner

Susan A. Davis

Edolphus Towns

Diana DeGette

Yvette D. Clarke

Jared Polis

Nydia M. Velazquez

John B. Larson

Michael E. McMahon

Joe Courtney

Carolyn B. Maloney

Rosa L. DeLauro

Charles B. Rangel

James A. Himes

Jose E. Serrano

Christopher S. Murphy

Eliot L. Engel

Eleanor Holmes Norton

Nita M. Lowey

Corrine Brown

John J. Hall

Alan Grayson

Paul D. Tonko

Kathy Castor

Maurice D. Hinchey

Kendrick B. Meek

John M. McHugh

Robert Wexler

Michael A. Arcuri

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Brian Higgins

Alcee L. Hastings

Louise McIntosh Slaughter

Henry C. "Hank Johnson

Eric J. J. Massa

John Lewis

Steve Driehaus

Neil Abercrombie

Dennis J. Kucinich

Mazie K. Hirono

Marcia L. Fudge

Bruce L. Braley

Betty Sutton

Walter Minnick

Mary Jo Kilroy

Bobby L. Rush

Tim Ryan

Jesse L. Jackson

David Wu

Daniel Lipinski

Earl Blumenauer

Luis V. Gutierrez

Peter A. DeFazio

Danny K. Davis

Chaka Fattah

Janice D. Schakowsky

Joe Sestak

Mark Steven Kirk

Patrick J. Murphy

Phil Hare

Allyson Y. Schwartz

Andre Carson

Todd Russell Platts

Dennis Moore

Patrick J. Kennedy

John A. Yarmuth

James R. Langevin

Ben Chandler

John M. Spratt

John W. Olver

Jim Cooper

Richard E. Neal

Bart Gordon

James P. McGovern

Steve Cohen

Barney Frank

Lloyd Doggett

Niki Tsongas

Robert C. "Bobby" Scott

John F. Tierney

Thomas S.P. Perriello

Edward J. Markey

James P. Moran

Michael E. Capuano

Frank R. Wolf

William D. Delahunt

Gerald E. "Gerry" Connolly

John P. Sarbanes

Donna M. Christensen

Donna F. Edwards

Peter Welch

Elijah E. Cummings

Jay Inslee

Chris Van Hollen

Brian Baird

Chellie Pingree

Jim McDermott

Vernon J. Ehlers

David G. Reichert

Dale E. Kildee

Adam Smith

Sander M. Levin

Tammy Baldwin

Carolyn C. Kilpatrick

Steve Kagen

John Conyers