Dear Cayuga Lake Watershed Network members, supporters, lake and clean water lovers:

The US EPA under Administrator Scott Pruitt wants to eviscerate clean water law protections for headwaters streams, seasonal streams, and wetlands.

We have less than a month to submit comments against this action.

Protections for these waters - essential to Cayuga Lake’s health, to waters nationwide, and the source of drinking water for 117 million people nationwide - were carefully defined in the Clean Water Rule, formulated and passed in 2015 under the Obama Administration. The Rule was needed to clarify the legal protections for wetlands, headwaters streams and seasonal streams, following Supreme Court rulings in 2001 and 2006 that weakened Clean Water Act protection for these waters.

Pruitt’s EPA now wants to rescind the Rule, to benefit energy developers, mining interests, and roadbuilding companies. Some farmers think the Rule threatens their farming freedoms, but the Rule specifically excludes farming operations from these protections. Your comments will aid the national pushback being mounted by the Clean Water For All campaign to keep the Clean Water Rule intact.

HOW TO COMMENT

  • Submit comments here (please include "Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2017-0203" in the subject line):
  • Your statement about the value of wetlands, seasonal streams andheadwatersstreams, in your own words, is best.
  • If you need guidance/additionalfacts, please look at the Clean Water Rule toolkit developed by the Clean Water For All campaign: it you can find helpful talking points, social media posts, memes, action alerts, example op-eds, and more.
  • You can find more information on the Clean Water Rule, its history, and the implications of its repeal here:

Organizations are encouraged to sign on to this letter to Scott Pruitt, deadline August 9:

Pruitt’s EPA wants to get this done quickly:

  • They do not WANT public input, which is why we have less than a month to comment.
  • They want the rule rescind process completed by early 2018 at the latest.
  • Then they will tackle the Clean Water Act itself, to attempt to remove the last shred of protection for headwaters, seasonal streams and wetlands from our federal water protection laws.
  • Please help prevent their plan from becoming reality.

Thank you.

HL