WASHINGTON,
DC— More than 62 percent of industrial and municipal facilities across
the country discharged more pollution into U.S. waterways than their
Clean Water Act permits allowed between July 2003 and December 2004,
according to "Troubled Waters: An Analysis Of Clean Water Act Compliance", a new report released today by U.S. PIRG.
“Polluters
are using America’s waters as their dumping ground. Instead of solving
the problem, the Bush administration has repeatedly shortchanged the
EPA’s budget and is undermining essential clean water programs,” said
U.S. PIRG Clean Water Advocate Christy Leavitt.
Since
1972, the Clean Water Act has made significant strides in cleaning up
U.S. waterways. Unfortunately, the law’s goals of eliminating the
discharge of pollutants into waterways by 1985 and making all U.S.
waters safe for fishing, swimming and other uses by 1983 have not been
met. Today, more than 40 percent of U.S. waterways are unsafe for these
basic activities.
Using
the Freedom of Information Act, U.S. PIRG obtained data on major
facilities’ compliance with their National Pollution Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) permits between July 1, 2003 and December
31, 2004. U.S. PIRG researchers found that polluters repeatedly
exceeded their permit limits, often by egregious amounts.
Among the findings of the report:
Nationally,
62 percent of all major industrial and municipal facilities discharged
more pollution into U.S. waterways than their permits allow at least
once during the 18-month period studied.
The
average facility discharged pollution in excess of its permit limit by
more than 275 percent, or almost four times the legal limit.
Nationally,
436 major facilities exceeded their Clean Water Act permits for at
least half of the monthly reporting periods between July 1, 2003 and
December 31, 2004. Thirty-five facilities exceeded their Clean Water
Act permits during every reporting period.
The
3,700 major facilities exceeding their permit limits reported more than
29,000 exceedances of their Clean Water Act permit limits. This means
that many facilities exceeded their permits more than once and for more
than one pollutant.
The
ten U.S. states with the most exceedances of Clean Water Act permit
limits during this time period are Ohio, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania,
Louisiana, Tennessee, Indiana, West Virginia, Massachusetts, and
Illinois.
The
ten U.S. states with the highest percentages of major facilities
exceeding their Clean Water Act permit limits at least once are West
Virginia, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Iowa, Ohio, New
Hampshire, Utah, the District of Columbia, and Maine.
“All
Americans deserve clean water to drink and safe places to swim and
fish. To clean up our waterways, this continuing pollution must stop,”
said Leavitt. “In addition, the Bush Administration and Congress should
fully fund the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to help communities
upgrade their clean water systems.”
Leavitt
noted that the findings are likely conservative, since the data that
U.S. PIRG analyzed includes only “major” facilities and does not
include pollution discharged into waters by the hundreds of thousands
of minor facilities across the country. In addition, facilities in
California, Oregon and Washington were not included in the report as a
result of unreliable data.
U.S.
PIRG called on the Bush administration to back off its efforts to
weaken the Clean Water Act, including withdrawing its 2003 policy
directive that eliminates Clean Water Act protections for many small
streams, wetlands and other waters around the country, and to commit to
strengthening enforcement of this landmark legislation.
In
addition, U.S. PIRG applauded Representatives Oberstar, Boehlert,
Dingell and Leach, and Senator Feingold for spearheading the Clean
Water Authority Restoration Act, which ensures all U.S. waters are
protected by the Clean Water Act, and called for all members of
Congress to support protecting America’s waters by cosponsoring this
important bill.
In order to achieve the goals of the Clean Water Act, U.S. PIRG recommended federal and state officials do the following:
• Increase EPA Funding
to put more environmental cops on the beat to identify and punish
polluters violating their Clean Water Act permits, and to fully fund
the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to help communities upgrade their
sewer systems.
• Protect all U.S. waters by
withdrawing the Bush administration’s 2003 “No Protection” policy which
excludes many small streams and wetlands from protection under the
Clean Water Act, and supporting passage of the Clean Water Authority
Restoration Act.
• Strengthen the Clean Water Act
by preventing polluters from profiting from pollution, tightening
permitted pollution limits, revoking the permits of repeat violators,
and ensuring citizens full access to the courts.
“To
protect public health and the environment, the Bush administration and
state officials must hold polluters accountable to their Clean Water
Act pollution limits,” concluded U.S. PIRG’s Leavitt.
