Petition for Expansion of Federal Protections for Bodies of Water

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The following is a petition to the Biden Administration to increase federal protections of groundwater, wetlands, and ephemeral streams.

To the Biden Administration and E.P.A Administrator Nominee Michael Regan,

Reminding The Biden Administration of the importance of our water, for that is what gives this world life,

Disturbed by the Trump Administration's rollback of protections for groundwater, wetlands, and ephemeral streams,

Noting the warnings of the Environmental Protections Agency Science Advisory Board stating that the Navigable Waters Protection Act "decreases protection for our Nation's waters and does not support the objective of restoring and maintaining 'the chemical, physical and biological integrity' of these waters."

We, the signatories, strongly urge the reversal of the Navigable Waters Protection Act, implemented by the Trump Administration in January of 2020. Particularly the sections that stripped groundwater, wetlands, and ephemeral streams from federal protection.

This altered the Clean Water Act, the main law that protects our country’s waters from pollution. It redefined what is considered “waters of the United States” to exclude items such as groundwater, ephemeral streams, wetlands, and more. Almost all bodies of water are connected to at least one another through a watershed, meaning that the pollution of one feature would lead to the pollution of others as well. Leaving one part of an interconnected system unprotected will likely lead to the pollution of a whole watershed.

Under the Obama Administration, these waters were federally protected, and without federal protections, these waters are left vulnerable to pollution. We again urge the new administration to take action within the first 100 days of the term, so these waters may be federally protected once again.