Since the first weeks of his administration, President George W. Bush has taken steps to systematically undermine or repeal the nation's most important safeguards that protect clean water. He has weakened or proposed to weaken programs that maintain water quality, cut huge sums for funding for clean water protections, scaled-back enforcement efforts, and even proposed eliminating all federal Clean Water Act protections from the majority of the nation's streams, wetlands and other waters.

John Creek near the Umpqua River in OR

Photo by Dan Callaghan

Individually, each of these measures means dirtier water for many Americans. Taken together, these actions constitute the most concerted effort to dismantle the Clean Water Act since the law was enacted over three decades ago.

Eliminating Protections for Over 60% of Stream Miles and Tens of Millions of Acres of Wetlands: The EPA and the Corps issued a policy directive that is intended to eliminate federal Clean Water Act protections for non-navigable tributaries of navigable waters, including intermittent and ephemeral streams, man-made watercourses connecting these waters, and wetlands adjacent to these waters. Under this directive, these waters would have no federal limits on the amount of pollution that can be dumped into these waters. No President in the 30 years since the law was passed has ever even proposed that there should be such a dramatic limitation on waters safeguarded by the Clean Water Act. (January 15, 2003)

Abandoning "No Net Loss" of Wetlands: The Army Corps of Engineers issued new "guidance" that reversed the "no net loss" of wetlands policy adopted by President George H.W. Bush in 1990. The new guidance dramatically weakens standards for mitigating wetlands losses by allowing wetlands to be "traded" for dry upland areas that do not serve the same functions as wetlands. (October 31, 2001)

Special Payback for Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining: The Bush administration finalized a new rule that eliminated a 25-year-old Clean Water Act regulation that prohibited the Army Corps of Engineers from allowing industrial wastes to bury and destroy U.S. waters. The change in the definition of "fill" material was driven by desire to legalize mountaintop removal coal mining, but the new rule also allows industries to dump hardrock mining waste, construction and demolition debris, and other solid industrial wastes into streams, rivers, coastal waters, wetlands and other waterways. (May 9, 2002)

Relaxed Cleanup and Oversight: Bush administration officials go to Capitol Hill to announce plans to amend the regulations for the Clean Water Act program responsible for cleaning up the 45% of the nation's waters too polluted for swimming, fishing, drinking water and other uses (known as the "Total Maximum Daily Load" program). EPA's draft proposal, if enacted, would leave more waters dirty and unsafe by weakening existing efforts to reduce polluted runoff, relaxing EPA oversight, and encouraging states to ignore the need to set pollution limits for many dirty waters. (August 7, 2002)

Axing Sewage Regulations: On Inauguration Day, President Bush placed an immediate moratorium on all recent regulations, including EPA proposed rules to reduce raw sewage discharges from sanitary sewers and require public notice when such sewer overflows occur. The Bush administration has continued to block these regulations ever since, despite the enormous public health benefits that would result from limiting the 40,000 uncontrolled discharges of raw sewage that currently occur in beach waters and onto playgrounds and streets and the 400,000 sewage backups into basements each year. (January 20, 2001)

More Wetland and Stream Losses: The Army Corps of Engineers and EPA relaxed standards for Clean Water Act "nationwide permits" – 5 year general permits that allow the filling of wetlands and streams but do not receive the same level of environmental scrutiny as individual permits and provide no public notice or comment opportunity. (January 15, 2002)

Ignoring Stormwater Pollution Controls: EPA announced it will not propose technology standards for controlling stormwater runoff pollution from new development. Early in 2002, EPA recommended new technology standards to incorporate technologies effective in addressing polluted stormwater runoff from construction sites and new development. OMB overruled EPA's scientific, technical, and economic experts and gutted the proposed rules. (June 24, 2002)

Another Giveaway to the Coal Mining Industry: The Bush administration issues an Environmental Impact Statement detailing the widespread, irreversible and devastating environmental effects caused by blowing up mountains and burying hundreds of miles of streams – yet the report recommends "streamlining" mountaintop removal coal mining permits, including and rolling back limits that require stricter Clean Water Act permit reviews for valley fills in streams draining more than 250 acres and eliminating a 25-yer old surface mining rule that mandates a 100-foot buffer zone between coal mining operations and streams. (May 30, 2003)

Putting Pesticides in Water: EPA issues a guidance purporting to exclude discharges of pesticides into lakes and streams from Clean Water Act permitting requirements. The agency took this action despite several federal court rulings saying that discharges of pesticides directly onto water, or from spraying activities that drift into waters, do require permits. This guidance was issued without any opportunity for public, scientific, or public health scrutiny (July, 11, 2003). EPA then announced another policy that purports to expand the exclusion of pesticides from Clean Water Act permitting requirements so that it applies to flame retardants and other chemicals. (September 3, 2003)

Failure to Prosecute Majority of Water Polluters: Under the Bush administration, EPA has racked up an abysmal record of enforcing federal water pollution standards, according to its own internal study. In the broadest effort to date to document the failure of the EPA and states to enforce the Clean Water Act, the EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance found that, at any one time, roughly 25 percent of all large industrial plants and water-treatment facilities are in violation of federal law. And in all but a handful of cases, EPA has failed to take action against the polluters. The study also found that half of the serious offenders exceed pollution limits for hazardous substances by more than 100 percent; 13 percent exceed such limits by 1,000 percent. On average, EPA takes formal disciplinary action in no more than 15 percent of cases, with fewer than half resulting in fines that average about $6,000. According to the study, some companies and municipalities have illegally discharged toxic chemicals or wastes into waterways for years without government sanctions. (June 06, 2003)

Negotiating Secret Settlement with the Oil Industry: EPA had filed a "Joint Motion to Stay" with the American Petroleum Institute and others in federal district court in D.C. to enter into secret settlement negations with the oil industry over regulations to limit oil spills into waters of the US. Oil industry groups are challenging the Clean Water Act's current regulatory definition of "waters" – a move that could allow more oil spills into waters and would threaten the integrity of all of the Act's programs. (January 15, 2003)

Allowing Polluted Waters to Make Clean Waters Dirtier: The Bush administration filed brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in which it argues that municipal water management districts can pipe dirty water into cleaner water without any permit under the federal Clean Water Act. The U.S. Solicitor General filed an amicus brief in the case, South Florida Water Management District v. Miccosukee Tribe, that if followed by the Court would have serious impacts on federal protections for the nation's waters, including the imperiled Florida Everglades. (September 10, 2003)

Putting More Sewage in Waters: EPA released a draft guidance that relaxes restrictions on discharging inadequately treated sewage into waterways during rain events. It allows sewage treatment plants to divert sewage around secondary treatment units, and then "blend" the largely untreated sewage with fully treated wastewater prior to discharge, in violation of the Clean Water Act's treatment requirements, spreading waterborne pathogens throughout the environment. (November 3, 2003)

Grossly Inadequate Efforts to Track Pollution: EPA has failed to keep tabs on water pollution because its computer tracking system is obsolete, full of faulty data, and lacks information on tens of thousands of sources of serious pollution, according to a report by the agency's Inspector General. (May 27, 2003)

Gutting Clean Water Act Budget: For 3 years running, President Bush's proposed federal budgets proposed slashing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Clean Water Act; in fact, clean water consistently receives the biggest proposed cuts of any EPA program under Bush budget proposals even though dirty water problems, including sewage overflows, are increasing. (2001, 2002, 2003)

Cuts to Enforcement Budget: For 3 years running, the Bush administration has proposed slashing funding for federal enforcement activities at EPA, including funding for the enforcement of the Clean Water Act. (2001, 2002, 2003)