48 Years of the Clean Water Act
On the 48th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, we’re reflecting on the past and what lies ahead for this fundamental environmental and public health law.
Since Congress enacted the Clean Water Act on October 18th, 1972, we’ve come a long way from rivers catching on fire, raw sewage discharged directly into rivers, and the unbridled destruction of wetlands and streams. By 1969, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio had already caught fire more than a dozen times. The Rouge River in Detroit caught on fire, and so did the Chicago River. The Androscoggin River in Maine was covered in a layer of toxic foam from decades of pollution from paper mills. The Hudson River in New York would change colors depending on the paint color of cars at the local automobile plant. The Willamette River in Oregon was so polluted that fish could barely survive. Read more about the Clean Water Act’s impact and check out this video footage of the Willamette from the 1930s and 1940s.
As former Senator James Jeffords (D-VT) stated on the floor in 2002 discussing the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972: “Americans began to ask, is this the best we can do?”
Thanks to the Clean Water Act, many of these rivers and the communities that rely upon them are coming back to life.
The Clean Water Act operates on the basic principle that discharges of pollution into a river, lake, or stream without a permit to put limits on that pollution is illegal. The Clean Water Act also requires each state to set specific pollution standards for waterbodies to set limits on mercury, sediment, temperature, and other contaminants. It allows states and tribes to review and deny large infrastructure projects if they are likely to violate state water quality standards. It requires industrial facilities to use updated technology to reduce pollution. The Clean Water Act also establishes a citizen suit provision that allows citizens to sue polluters directly when state or federal agencies lack the resources or political willpower to enforce the law.
How does Rogue Riverkeeper protect the Rogue using the Clean Water Act?
Our ability to stand up for a healthy Rogue is directly tied to the Clean Water Act. Using the tools of the Clean Water Act, we advocate for a healthy river, hold decision-makers accountable, and engage with local communities. We track and respond to permit applications from cities and industries that want to discharge pollution into the Rogue. We work to strengthen permit standards so clean water is protected. We also work to stop harmful practices and projects that would violate water quality standards and threaten the health of the Rogue and our communities.
Here are two examples of how Rogue Riverkeeper used the tools of the Clean Water Act to protect the Rogue in 2020:
The May 2019 denial of the Clean Water Act Section 401 permit by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is critical to defeating the Jordan Cove LNG project: From the beginning, Rogue Riverkeeper recognized that getting this Clean Water Act permit denied was a key decision point in stopping the project once and for all. Together with our partners, we submitted technical comments and generated more than 40,000 public comments asking the state to deny this permit. In May 2019, Oregon DEQ DENIED the 401 certification for the project because Jordan Cove LNG failed to provide reasonable assurances that the project would comply with state water quality standards. Pembina submitted a petition to FERC on April 21, 2020 claiming that the state waived its authority to issue this certification. Now, the state of Oregon has legally challenged this claim to defend its authority.
Improving protections for small streams violating Clean Water Act standards under current logging practices on private forest lands: The Rogue watershed includes more than 1 million acres of private forest lands managed under the Oregon Forest Practices Act. The science is clear that logging trees near streams reduces shade and increases water temperature, which can harm threatened fish. Multiple studies demonstrated that current logging practices near streams allow streams to get too warm, violating the state water quality standard for temperature under the Clean Water Act. The Oregon Board of Forestry recently finalized new standards to modestly increase stream buffers that ultimately excluded the Rogue watershed. After more than four years of consistent advocacy to remove this exemption, Rogue Riverkeeper and our partners successfully put pressure on the Board of Forestry to apply the more protective standard to the Rogue. This means increased protections for nearly 320 miles of salmon and steelhead streams that flow through private forest lands in the Rogue. Now, Rogue Riverkeeper is joining negotiations with the timber industry over the next two years to develop comprehensive reforms to the Oregon Forest Practices Act. Read more about ongoing efforts to reform logging practices on private forest lands.
What lies ahead for the Clean Water Act?
In the wake of the recent Almeda Fire here in southern Oregon, it’s important to look at what’s ahead and what is at stake when it comes to clean water. In a changing climate, with less consistent rainfall, less stable snowpack, and increased drought, the presence of cold, clean water becomes even more critical for communities in our region. In the last year, the Clean Water Act has been significantly weakened by roll backs from the Trump Administration.
In 2020, the Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized new regulations that narrow the scope of waters protected by the Clean Water Act. This final rule leaves the entire Rogue vulnerable to increased pollution. Ephemeral streams, fed primarily by snow and rain, lost protections under the Clean Water Act. Many ditches also lost Clean Water Act protections, which means that polluters would not be required to have a permit that places limits on pollution that can be discharged into those waters. Outside of the Rogue watershed, but no less important, are the iconic blue waters of Crater Lake. This final rule removes protections from “isolated” lakes like Crater Lake that don’t have direct connections to waters that are traditionally navigable.
Help defend against rollbacks to the Clean Water Act. Ask your legislators to stop this rule from going into effect that threatens the health of the river, salmon and steelhead, and our communities that rely upon the clean, cold waters of the Rogue.
Also in 2020, the Trump EPA finalized another new regulation that fast-tracks harmful fossil fuel projects and could directly impact the Jordan Cove LNG project proposed in southern Oregon. The Trump EPA finalized this regulation in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and widespread protests against police brutality and systemic racism. The new rule tips the careful balance of state, tribal, and federal authority under the federal Clean Water Act to protect clean water in favor of polluters.
Ask your legislators to stand up to the Trump administration's efforts to gut public health and environmental protections under the Clean Water Act.
The Clean Water Act is a constant target for those who would put polluters and profits before people.
Protecting clean water and public health is never easy, nor does it come without costs. Yet, the costs to our health, our rivers, and our communities are far greater if we do nothing, or worse, allow existing protections to be hollowed out and destroyed. Together, we can stand up for clean water and healthy rivers for our friends, our families, and future generations.
“Can we afford clean water? Can we afford rivers and lakes and streams and oceans which continue to make life possible on this planet? Can we afford life itself? The answers are the same. Those questions were never asked as we destroyed the waters of our Nation, and they deserve no answers as we finally move to restore and renew them. The questions answer themselves. We have reached a point in our struggle against water pollution, as we say in New England, `we must either fish or cut bait.’ If we are serious about restoring the quality of our Nation’s waters to a level that will support life in the future, then we ought to be prepared to make some sacrifices in that effort now.
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