President Obama and his administration have announced bold new executive actions that have left Republicans fuming by protecting 33% of the nation’s clean drinking water supply.
In a statement, President Obama said:
For more than 40 years, American families and businesses across the country have counted on the Clean Water Act to protect the streams and wetlands we rely on for our way of life – from recreation to public health to a growing economy. In recent years, however, court decisions have led to uncertainty and a need for clarification. One in three Americans now gets drinking water from streams lacking clear protection, and businesses and industries that depend on clean water face uncertainty and delay, which costs our economy every day. Too many of our waters have been left vulnerable to pollution. That’s why I called on the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clear up the confusion and uphold our basic duty to protect these vital resources.
Today, after extensive input from the American public, they’re doing just that – finalizing the Clean Water Rule to restore protection for the streams and wetlands that form the foundation of our nation’s water resources, without getting in the way of farming, ranching, or forestry. This rule will provide the clarity and certainty businesses and industry need about which waters are protected by the Clean Water Act, and it will ensure polluters who knowingly threaten our waters can be held accountable. My Administration has made historic commitments to clean water, from restoring iconic watersheds like the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes to preserving more than a thousand miles of rivers and other waters for future generations. With today’s rule, we take another step towards protecting the waters that belong to all of us.
Republicans are already losing their minds and calling the new administration rule a land grab. Speaker of the House John Boehner said, “The administration’s decree to unilaterally expand federal authority is a raw and tyrannical power grab that will crush jobs. House Members of both parties have joined more than 30 governors and government leaders to reject EPA’s disastrous WOTUS rule. These leaders know firsthand that the rule is being shoved down the throats of hardworking people with no input, and places landowners, small businesses, farmers, and manufacturers on the road to a regulatory and economic hell.”
Boehner’s statement is just one example of the outcry from Congressional Republicans. Republicans are trying to hide the issue. The new rule does not give the federal government possession of any land or waterways. What the new rule does do is give these waterways federal protections from corporate polluters.
EPA head Gina McCarthy debunked the Republican claims of a land grab, “It does not interfere with private property rights or address land use. It does not regulate any ditches unless they function as tributaries. It does not apply to groundwater or shallow subsurface water, copper tile drains or change policy on irrigation or water transfer.”
When Republicans claim that this rule is harming the economy, what they really mean is that these changes aren’t going to allow agribusiness and corporations to destroy the clean water supply for 33% of the country. Republicans are literally advocating for one-third of the country to potentially lose access to clean drinking water.
The action by President Obama and his administration was a bold, forward-thinking step that was designed to protect a key portion of the nation’s clean water supply.
Sorry Republicans, Obama isn’t coming for your land, but he is trying to make sure that you and your children have access to safe and clean drinking water.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
Why is it, when Republicans speak about the ‘economy’ it’s just an aside for their determination to defecate into our drinking water?
Very good news here!!
The Koch brothers must have been screaming in Boehner’s ear as soon as they heard about it. How dare POTUS keep us from polluting America’s water!
Republicans, on behalf of their greedy, anti-America billionaire masters, will turn any positive idea for the American people as a whole into a heinous crime.
It’s the sole reason why Republicans have ZERO credibility on any given issue. It’s unwise for anyone to pay the dumb and the willfully dumb any heed on anything.
Insane rant trying to equate Marco Rubio’s nervous thirst to Obama’s taking a sip of water by INSANE Reich Wingers in 7,6,5,4,3,2,1…. And Moongrim when the Republicans talk about “reform” “re-structure” that REALLY means DESTROY!!!or Privatize.
Clean water and air was signed by Trickey-Dickey…
The EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon and began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate.
Watch Nestlé spaz.
When you value money over clean water for your own family then you have truly gone insane.
All the administration have to do is advertise this to fishermen, boaters and hunters in their magazines and then watch the American Taliban run and hide
Boehner is such a jerk. He blatantly comes out with a whopper of a lie but no one will call him out on it.
It is a real shame that in the 21st century, we still have to protect our waterways from ruthless, selfish corporations.
Of course the GOP will hate all of this action, not because jobs will be lost, but because it is the RIGHT thing to do. GOP never does the right thing, so they cannot handle it. This will HELP Americans maintain some safety of their water; GOP wants to damage Americans, not help them.
I suppose that means no more fresh water for fracking, Right? No more oil pipelines running through our lakes and rivers, Right? Hold out both of you hands, hope for change in one hand, and shit in the other. Which hand fills up first? That’s how much you should trust Slick Oily!
The EPA will not protect our water supply from Big Oil’s fracking, They will continue to poison and pollute our most precious national resource.
ExxonMobil says mankind has ‘enormous capacity to deal with adversity’ caused by climate change
ExxonMobil has a plan to deal with climate change. The plan is they’re going to do whatever they want, and it sucks to be you.
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/exxonmobil-ceo-downplays-climate-change-mock-renewable-energy-118330.html#ixzz3bMvku15C
OMG, the last line in the article sent a shiver down my spine – Republicans have children?
Toxic waste in our drinking supplies has killed many people, forced them to buy water for drinking, bathing, etc., and unable to sell their homes in the affected areas.
Of course the federal government will not own the creeks, streams, marshes, ponds, ect. They will simply control them while the landowner gets to pay for them. This is not a land grab, its a power grab. And it has nothing to do with having pure drinking water.
You aware that there has always been concurrent federal jurisdiction over any waterway navigable even by small craft?… Though it’s rarely exercised, it can be, any time. No other “pretense” is needed.
I had to scroll down quite a ways to find a comment as inaccurate and stupid as your’s. Most states have environmental regs that protect waterways and drinking water sources, some more than others. As a person who has served as an environmental officer and managed public water sources, these safeguards are essential to protect public health from a**clowns like you and the Koch Bros. If you think taking the ability of scum like the Kochs to pollute water sources is a power grab you are exactly the moron who the GOP targets and also the a**clown who will die in the next poisoning of water. At least one hopes.
Republicans and their anti-American masters? Think you have that wrong. Where did the Clinton Foundation get most of there money? From the anti-American billionaires overseas. You know the ones. The King of Saudi Arabia and all the rest of the billionaires including George Santoes. It’s a “positive idea” to give the White House and the EPA more control and more power than they have now? What have the Democrats done that has been GOOD for America?
Civil rights for one. Lily ledbetter act. The ACA. Now what have republicans done for the American people in the last 40 years. Your sheet is showing
Lots of “No Ways” here today. So, I must conclude that the trolls do not care if we have clean drinking water. When it is all polluted and poisoned, where do they think they will get THEIR water?
They’ll ssip in their mouths and swallow.
People act like the white house and giant corporations do not work hand in hand together. This is a power grab. “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”-Benjamin Franklin
OK American Patriot…you can keep drinking water that’s filled with chit, I couldn’t care less. But I for one, like the clean water that comes out of my faucets…