To: The United States Senate
Help send 30,000 messages to Congress to protect the Clean Water Act!
Dear Senator,
I urge you to oppose Senate Bill 3303, the attempt to gut Section 401 of the Clean Water Act.
This is an essential provision of one our bedrock environmental laws. It allows individual states to set their own water quality standards, and to withhold permitting from federally-approved infrastructure projects if they fail to meet those standards. This applies to things like hydroelectric dams, export terminals, and, yes, natural gas pipelines.
This provision has been critical to protecting our communities from disastrous fossil fuel projects like the fracked gas Constitution Pipeline in New York and the Millennium Bulk coal export terminal in Washington. The Supreme Court has upheld states’ ability to use this provision to stop these projects.
If this bill were ever signed into law, it would force states to accept unworkable permitting timelines, arbitrarily limit the length of environmental reviews, and limit the criteria that states could base their objections on.
In short, the only ones who stand to benefit from this bill are fossil fuel industry executives. This is unacceptable.
Please vote no on this bill.
Thank you,
I urge you to oppose Senate Bill 3303, the attempt to gut Section 401 of the Clean Water Act.
This is an essential provision of one our bedrock environmental laws. It allows individual states to set their own water quality standards, and to withhold permitting from federally-approved infrastructure projects if they fail to meet those standards. This applies to things like hydroelectric dams, export terminals, and, yes, natural gas pipelines.
This provision has been critical to protecting our communities from disastrous fossil fuel projects like the fracked gas Constitution Pipeline in New York and the Millennium Bulk coal export terminal in Washington. The Supreme Court has upheld states’ ability to use this provision to stop these projects.
If this bill were ever signed into law, it would force states to accept unworkable permitting timelines, arbitrarily limit the length of environmental reviews, and limit the criteria that states could base their objections on.
In short, the only ones who stand to benefit from this bill are fossil fuel industry executives. This is unacceptable.
Please vote no on this bill.
Thank you,
Why is this important?
Section 401 of the Clean Water Act allows individual states to set their own water quality standards. It also lets states withhold permitting from federally approved infrastructure projects if they fail to meet the state’s standards. This provision is an important tool to stop polluting projects like hydroelectric dams, export terminals, and natural gas pipelines.
The Clean Water Act is one of our most important -- and popular -- environmental protections. Together, we can stop the House from gutting it. But we need you to speak up now.
The Clean Water Act is one of our most important -- and popular -- environmental protections. Together, we can stop the House from gutting it. But we need you to speak up now.