Clean Water Act takes a beating

The Supreme Court has held that mining waste can now be classified as "fill," as long as it contains enough solid material to raise the bottom of the lake, and is no longer the responsibility of the EPA. Specifically, the decision gives Coeur Alaska Inc. permission to dump 4.5 million tons of gold mining waste into Lower Slate Lake at a rate of 210,000 gallons a day, even though it would effectively sterilize the lake. Under a Bush-era expansion of the rules, permission from the Army Corps of Engineers is good enough.

There are two ways to stop this, and to restore the original intent of the Clean Water Act. The most straightforward way is for the Obama administration to reverse the current interpretation of the rule, returning authority to the EPA. A longer lasting solution is for Congress to act.

Something we can all do is contact the White House and our representatives in Congress and let them know what we think:

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
202-456-1111
email: president@whitehouse.gov

To contact your Senators, go to this web page.

For House members, go here.