Clean Water Rule ‘A Major Victory for People, Great Lakes, Economy’
Clean Water Act protections for streams, wetlands will protect public drinking water for more than 30 million people in region, bolster Great Lakes restoration and protection efforts.
ANN ARBOR, MICH. (May 27, 2015) – The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is heralding a new clean water rule as a major step forward in protecting drinking water and restoring the health of the Great Lakes. The clean water rule, released today, restores Clean Water Act protections to streams and wetlands that supply drinking water to 1-in-3 Americans—117 million people, 30 million of whom live in the Great Lakes states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.
“The clean water protection rule is a major victory for people, the Great Lakes, and our economy,” said Todd Ambs, campaign director for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “We thank President Obama, the U.S. EPA, and the Army Corps of Engineers for standing up for our drinking water, Great Lakes, jobs, and way of life. At a time when federal Great Lakes restoration investments are delivering results for our environment and economy across the region, the clean water protection rule will help ensure that those gains are protected and not undermined.”
Prior to the clean water protection rule, streams and wetlands across the nation were at risk for pollution and destruction—threatening public drinking water and a $28.3 billion regional fishing, hunting and wildlife-viewing economy. Federal Great Lakes restoration efforts were at risk as well, particularly the effort to protect and restore 1 million acres of wetlands—a restoration goal that would be all but impossible to reach without the new rule.
The U.S. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers are releasing the rule. Read the EPA news release at: http://1.usa.gov/1AtVOOO
The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition consists of more than 120 environmental, conservation, outdoor recreation organizations, zoos, aquariums and museums representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Learn more at www.healthylakes.org or follow us on twitter @healthylakes.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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