Support the Clean Water Restoration Act!

 _ Aerospace Cancer Museum of Education _ American Rivers _Anahuak Youth Sports Association _ Butte Environmental Council _California Sportfishing Protection Alliance _ Clean Water Action _CleanUpRocketdyne.org _ Community Water Center _ Defenders ofWildlife _ East Bay Watershed Center _ Environment California _ FishSniffer Magazine _ Friends of the Los Angeles River _ Friends ofTrinity River _ Planning and Conservation League _ Lassen ForestPreservation Group _ Protect Our Water _ The River Project _ RoseFoundation for Communities and the Environment _ San JerardoCooperative, Inc _ San Joaquin Et Al _ San Joaquin Raptor RescueCenter _ San Joaquin Valley Conservancy _ Sierra Club _ SierraNevada Alliance _ Urban Semillas _ Winnemem Wintu Tribe _ September 9, 2008RE: Support Clean Water: Help Enact H.R. 2421/S. 1870 Dear Member of Congress:Full Clean Water Act protections for the nation's waters, including the many streams, rivers, ponds, wetlands, and lakes that supply drinking water, recreation opportunities, commercialfishing, and wildlife habitat are being lost. Without these protections, it will be easier to pave over wetlands and dump waste into small streams – adversely affecting ourcommunities in California. On behalf of our membership and supporters throughout California, we are writing to ask for your support for the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 (H.R. 2421/ S. 1870), which willhelp to ensure clean water for our state. If you are not yet a cosponsor, we urge you to add your name to this bill today. Passage of the Clean Water Restoration Act will make certainthat the streams, tributaries, wetlands, rivers, lakes, and coastal waters Congress originally intended to be protected from pollution by the 1972 Clean Water Act will remain protected now and for future generations. The loss of Clean Water Act protections for the large network of headwater and seasonal streams that provides us with drinking water is of special concern. These streams are thedrinking water sources for more than 14 million Californians, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. One example of a drinking water source at risk is the Santa Ana River, which lies south and east of Los Angeles. This critical river is the main drinking water source for Orange Countyand its surrounding areas, where population is projected to continue growing for decades to come. Eighty-nine percent of this arid watershed is fed by streams that only flow seasonallyor after rainstorms. The recent split Supreme Court decisions and confusing Bush administration guidance on the Clean Water Act could leave the majority of this watershed unprotected, allowing the unlimited discharge of waste into these streams and endangering local communities’ drinking water sources. Not only are drinking water sources in southern California at risk, but if these small tributaries are degraded or destroyed, downstream water quality will inevitably suffer. The Los Angeles River watershed is another area at great risk. On June 4, 2008, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a ruling that puts all federal Clean Water protections atgreat risk for many headwater streams and wetlands in the Los Angeles River basin. The Corps ruled that only two small stretches of the Los Angeles River, totaling just eightpercent of the entire river miles is “traditionally navigable” under the Clean Water Act. This ruling makes it far less likely that federal Clean Water Act protections would be applied tothe small streams that flow into the rest of the Los Angeles River, threatening the health of those waters and the quality of the Los Angeles River itself and greatly undermining plans torevitalize the River. The Los Angeles River is over 50 miles long, flowing from the suburbs of the San Fernando Valley to the ocean in Long Beach. Originally, the Los Angeles Rivermeandered through wetlands and marshes delivering needed water for the parched region. The implications of the Corps’ ruling are so dire that the Environmental Protection Agency recently opted to review the Corps’ decision. These are just two recent examples in California of how the Clean Water Act’s long-standing anti-pollution defenses are now in jeopardy. Just last month, Congressman James Oberstar and Congressman Henry Waxman released an internal U.S. EPA memo showing that hundreds of Clean Water Act enforcement caseshave either been dropped completely or made lower priorities due to uncertainty about whether those waters are within the scope of the Clean Water Act. These cases involved oilspills, pollution discharges and illegal filling of wetlands.These decisions and actions are turning back the clock on conservation and denying the protections of the Clean Water Act. Because of two Supreme Court rulings and muddledBush administration guidance, the EPA and Corps are doing little to conserve small streams and wetlands. At stake is everything from the Santa Ana River Watershed to the LA River. In response to this threat, Chairman James Oberstar, Congressman Vernon Elhers, Congressman John Dingell, Senator Barbara Boxer, and Senator Russ Feingold have championed legislation that would restore the benefits of Clean Water Act protections to these waters. The Clean Water Restoration Act would simply adopt the existing regulatory definition (in place since the 1970s) to confirm that all "waters of the United States" are protected under the Act. The Clean Water Act has done more than any other law to protect California’s waters from unregulated pollution and destruction. Congress must reaffirm and restore critically needed protections for the streams, wetlands and other waters now at risk in California. We urge you to support the Clean Water Restoration Act. Sincerely, William Preston BowlingACME (Aerospace Cancer Museum of Education) Melissa SametFounder/Director Senior Director, Water Resources American Rivers, California Field Office Raul Macias Anahuak Youth Sports Association Barbara VlamisExecutive Director Executive DirectorButte Environmental Council Bill Jennings California Sportfishing Protection Alliance Jennifer ClaryExecutive Director and Chairman Policy AnalystClean Water Action Christina Walsh Founder & DirectorCleanUpRocketdyne.org Laurel FirestoneCo-Executive DirectorCommunity Water Center Joshua Basofin California Representative Defenders of Wildlife  Robin FreemanCoordinatorEast Bay Watershed Center Dan Jacobson Legislative Director Environment California Fish  Dan BacherEditorSniffer Magazine Shelly Backlar Executive Director Friends of the Los Angeles River  Byron Leydecker, JCTChairFriends of Trinity River  Jim Brobeck Forest Policy Analyst Lassen Forest Preservation Group  Traci SheehanExecutive DirectorPlanning and Conservation League Steve Burke SpokespersonProtect Our Water (POW) Melanie WinterFounder & DirectorThe River Project Tim Little Executive Director Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment  Horacio AmezquitaGeneral ManagerSan Jerardo Cooperative, Inc Maureen McCorry Director San Joaquin Et Al  Lydia MillerPresidentSan Joaquin Raptor Rescue Center Bill Hatch Board Member San Joaquin Valley Conservancy   Jim MetropulosSenior AdvocateSierra Club – California Joan Clayburgh Executive Director Sierra Nevada Alliance  Miguel LunaExecutive DirectorUrban Semillas Mark FrancoHeadmanWinnemem Wintu Tribe