Huge win for Clean Water Act, Thanks to Leadership of Six Tribes

On August 30th, 2021, an order from the U.S. District Court in Arizona brought an end to the “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” (NWPR). This Rule removed Clean Water Act protections from a large number of wetlands and streams that were covered under the Act’s definition of “Waters of the U.S.”

The Pascua Yaqui tribe, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Tohono O’odham Nation, Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, Quinault Indian Nation, and Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa brought the case and successfully proved how detrimental the Rule is not only for the Southwest but also for the entire country. The tribes were represented by Earthjustice.

Read more from Greenwire here

Photo by Ashley Inguanta

MRN Continues to Speak Out about WOTUS

Even with this historic win made possible by six tribes, the federal agencies involved in the rulemaking now need to replace the “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” with strong, robust federal clean water protections. The new protections and definitions should be rooted in science and consistent with the objective of the Clean Water Act and its vision for “fishable and swimmable” waters throughout the U.S. Protecting these small streams and wetlands are critical to the health and resilience of the Mississippi River and the communities that depend on it.

The Mississippi River Network (MRN) and our members have been active participants in this process. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a series of listening sessions about the “Navigable Waters Protection Rule,” and the EPA continues to take written comments from the public through this Friday, September 3. If you would like to write to the EPA, click here.

MRN’s Policy Director Maisah made a public comment at the listening session on August 25. You can read her public comments on behalf of the Mississippi River Network below:

August 25, 2021
United States Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers; Department of Defense; and
Environmental Protection Agency
OW-Docket@epa.gov
Re: Mississippi River Network (MRN) Comment on Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2021-032
regarding “Waters of the United States”

Dear all:
I am writing in regards to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2021-032 regarding the “Waters of the United States” rulemaking.

My name is Maisah Khan, and I am the Policy Director for the Mississippi River Network (MRN) based out of St. Louis, Missouri. I am writing today in support of repealing the “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” by the end of this year.

MRN represents a coalition of nearly 60 organizations up and down the Mississippi River — from the Headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico. MRN is dedicated to creating a healthier Mississippi River by working for the well-being of the people, land, water, and wildlife of America’s largest watershed.

Our work and the work of many of our member organizations is about restoring the health of our Mississippi River, both in its main channel and with consideration to the wider system of waterways that are the Mississippi River’s sources and receiving water bodies. This wider river system includes all the types of water bodies listed in the Clean Water Act as jurisdictional “Waters of the United States”, including interstate waters, tributaries, and wetlands. The “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” is putting streams and wetlands in the Mississippi River basin at risk right now. The Rule is increasing flood risk by stripping protections from over 50 percent of wetlands in the United States. We know that climate change is exacerbating the impacts of flooding, especially in the Midwest and along the Mississippi. At a time when we should be doing much more to conserve and restore our floodplains, wetlands, and streams — this Rule takes a dramatic step backwards.

As a resident of the state of Missouri, I am also concerned that the Rule strips essential federal protections from thousands of acres of Missouri wetlands located behind levees constructed along – and thus physically separated from – the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, as well as from an unknown but undoubtedly significant portion of the precious remaining 1.5 million acres of floodplain wetlands in Missouri because they do not abut or have a direct hydrologic surface connection to other waters of the United States.1

The Rule threatens drinking water for over 2 million Missourians by removing protections for small streams, and it ignores the importance of small streams and wetlands for outdoor recreation in Missouri. According to the Conservation Federation of Missouri, we spend $3 billion annually in our state on outdoor recreation.2

The Rule threatens our rivers, streams, and wetlands by prioritizing some industries over the health of our waterways and those whose livelihoods depend on clean water. By repealing the Rule as soon as possible, EPA can support local jobs and ensure the outdoors remain accessible and protected.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments.
Regards,
Maisah Khan
Policy Director
Mississippi River Network
Email: mkhan@1mississippi.org
MRN Website: https://mississippiriver.org/
2 See Conservation Federation of Missouri’s publication:
https://www.confedmo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/District-5_Cleaver_2019.pdf
1 See 2019 comment letter from MRN member, Missouri Coalition for the Environment:
https://moenvironment.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-04-15_WOTUS-Comment-Letter_MCE-3.pdf

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