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Clean Water Network
E-Bulletin 4/30/12
Riders & Toxics & Coal, Oh My!
Earth Day Thanks, Bad Coal Ash Bill Alert, Child Labor Laws on Farms, Pesticides & more in this Bulletin!
Thank you to everyone who joined us for America's 1st Annual FLOAT-IN Earth Day!
Yes it was rainy, cold, and windy. But it was also fun! To all of our Earth Day partners, contributors, performers, attendees, floaters and speakers including Ralph Nader, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, EPA Acting Assistant Administrator of Water Nancy Stoner and Clean Water America Alliance President Ben Grumbles, thank you for braving less than ideal conditions on the beautiful Anacostia River, a neglected jewel in Washington DC. We appreciate your support in marking the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, one of our nation's landmark environmental laws.
If YOU have not had a chance to contribute to Clean Water Network's Power of Water Campaign, now is the time to do it! Please consider making a donation NOW by clicking HERE. Remember no gift is too small. Your contribution will help support Clean Water Network's grassroots clean water efforts. Thanks in advance for helping Clean Water Network at this very critical time!
To read about the event, including the final agenda and writeups on the clean water champion award winners, click HERE. To see a collection of photos click on our facebook page! 
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Clean Water Network's POWER OF WATER NEWS ALERTS
Coal Ash "Freedom to Dump" Bill Alert:
U.S. House lawmakers approved a disastrous "freedom to dump" amendment on April 18th, to the Transportation Bill, that would largely block EPA's authority over coal ash disposal, a by-product of coal fired power plants. The amendment would leave states as the primary regulators, a frightening proposition in some states and their neighbors. The U.S. House Transportation Extension, which would extend funding from the federal Highway Trust Fund through September, is the House's response to a Senate Transportation bill.
The measure, which would essentially prohibit EPA from setting enforceable standards for the safe disposal of toxic coal ash, was approved by a vote of 293-127. It goes now to conference with the Senate. Senator Max Baucus (MT) is said to be working on a compromise coal ash legislative proposal in the Senate, even though the prospects for that legislation remain unclear.
Background: The EPA is proposing for the first time to regulate coal ash as a hazardous waste. Coal ash includes a broad range of metals, including arsenic, selenium, and cadmium. It often ends up in porous landfills or unlined ponds threatening local water supplies and public health. The agency issued a draft coal ash disposal proposal in May 2010 under RCRA, and is expected to finalize the rule some time later this year. The rule was created in response to a 2008 coal-ash accident in Kingston, Tennessee., that spilled more than 5 million cubic yards of coal
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Coal Ash Spill in Tennessee.
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ash into the nearby Clinch and Emory Rivers and could require up to $1.2 billion to clean up. The Kingston disaster is the largest toxic spill in U.S. history - 5 times larger than the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. While the Kingston spill was devastating, it is not an isolated incident - since 2002, millions of gallons of spilled or leaking toxic slurry have contaminated streams and groundwater in states across the country. Toxic Coal ash has been linked to 189 cases of water contamination in 35 states. Despite the toxic nature of coal ash and numerous cases of contamination, there are currently NO federal standards to ensure this industrial waste product is disposed of safely. State laws governing disposal are weak or non-existent. To read more on toxic coal ash and to access Clean Water Network's position statement please click HERE.  Take Action NOW!
CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY AND URGE THEM TO OPPOSE THE "FREEDOM TO DUMP" COAL ASH PROVISION IN THE TRANSPORTATION BILL! Urge your Senators to say NO to any amendments that gut federal coal ash protections. The transportation bill means safe roads and safe communities. Polluting it with "Freedom to dump" amendments that will poison our communities with coal ash, is unfair to millions of Americans living near these coal ash sites. It is bad for our precious water resources and for public health!
Supporting stronger standards for coal ash disposal is the right thing to do!
To locate your Senators' Washington DC and State Contact Office Information click on: www.senate.gov and follow the prompts. You can also call the Capitol Hill Directory and ask to be connected at 202-224-3121.
CALL, WRITE, TWEET AND EMAIL TODAY!
It will only take a few minutes of your time and it will make a difference. Drop us an email to let us know how it went at CWNHeadquarters@cwn.org.
Child Labor Laws On Farms
This from our friends at Public Citizen:
The Obama administration once again sided with industry instead of workers on regulations and withdrew the Department of Labor's (DOL) proposed rules that would have restricted child workers from the most dangerous tasks in agriculture.
Agriculture is the last remaining industry in which children as young as 12 are allowed to work, thanks to a 75 year-old loophole in the Fair Labor Standards Act. It also is the most dangerous industry for workers, with child fatality rates four times that of youth in other industries. The new rules would have finally addressed this urgent issue.
Industry critics of the rules, and their allies in Congress, constantly invoked the image of an idyllic family farm to conceal the reality that the rules were meant to address large, corporate farms where the majority of child laborers work and die. The White House not only caved to industry pressure, but also parroted its false argument as the reason for the rules' withdrawal.
For more information on this topic from Public Citizen click HERE.
Pesticides
Last year Clean Water Network sent letters opposing HR 872 a disastrous bill, that if passed in the Senate, would pollute our waters with pesticides, which will have dire consequences for public health and the economy nationwide.The proposed bill which passed the US House of Representatives 292-130, (see CWN's Dirty Water Voting Chart HERE to see how your member of Congress voted) would amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Clean Water Act to exempt discharges of pesticides to waterways from the Clean Water Act's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program.
FIFRA regulates the sale and use of pesticides but does not provide protections tailored to the conditions in specific bodies of water. Relying only on that law would cause a dangerous vacuum in protecting human health and ecosystems. Pesticides discharged into our waterways harm aquatic life and contaminate drinking water supplies. The legislation seeks to undo an important 2009 federal appeals court ruling in National Cotton Council v. U.S. EPA, that found EPA's pesticide permitting under FIFRA insufficiently regulates pesticide users who discharge into waterways. The court ordered EPA to begin issuing permits under the water pollution law by 4-9.
Because of this court decision, EPA has moved forward with a NPDES general permit for pesticides. By issuing a general permit, as opposed to having each individual discharger obtain a permit, EPA can provide timely and efficient coverage and simplify the permitting process for the majority of dischargers while protecting public health and water quality. The court decision provides needed protection for water quality.
There is now movement on the part of industry groups to add the same language from HR 872 to the 2012 Farm Bill. According to recent press reports, Senator Ben Cardin (MD), chairman of the Senate environment committee's clean water subcommittee, says that he and environment committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) would raise jurisdictional challenges to the Farm Bill if the agriculture panel kills EPA's pesticide spray permit in the version of the bill it is slated to begin marking up April 25. We will keep you updated on all new developments.
Check out all of the Clean Water events
happening across the country in 2012 by clicking on Clean Water Network's Google Calendar Here:
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