Mr. Richard A. Cairo
Susquehanna River Basin Commission
1721 N. Front Street
Harrisburg, PA 17102-2391
Re: Proposed Rulemaking, 76 F.R. 41154, July 13, 2011
Dear Mr. Cairo : Lehigh Valley
Clean Water Action is writing today to request an extension of the comment period for the SRBC's proposed rulemaking, which redefines the scope of Approvals by Rule and streamlining the process around recycling wastewater. We would like to support the calls
of other environmental organizations in requesting thirty additional days to review the implications of these rules.
State support for the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is at a historic low point. Over the past two years, General Fund support to DEP's budget has been cut by one-third. Gov. Corbett is now proposing to cut DEP's budget even further.
Take action now! Tell our Elected Officials, "No More Cuts to DEP!"
State General Fund support for DEP's budget:
Total three year cut: $ 77.5 million
Percentage cut: 35.6% since FY 2008/2009
Clean Water Action and Sierra Club have released a 2009-2010 Scorecard for all Pennsylvania state representatives and senators.
Before you head to the polls on November 2, see how your representatives have been voting in Harrisburg on the environmental issues that you care about!
Get the complete scorecard. (pdf, 618 kb)
getting to the source of plastics and trash in our waterways
Clean Water Action wanted to know where all the plastics and trash in the world’s oceans and inland waterways, such as the San Francisco Bay, are coming from. Research has long held that 80% of ocean debris is generated from land-based sources. It enters waterways through the storm drain system or gets blown into waterways from open garbage dumps and trash containers. But where is all that trash originating? There research just wasn’t there.
frack attack across colorado's front range!
Northern Colorado, home base to Colorado Clean Water Action in Fort Collins, is in the midst of the biggest fracking boom in the United States. Weld County, just east of Fort Collins, has more active oil and gas wells than any county in the U.S, with nearly 18,000 wells. As a geologic formation called the “Niobrara Shale” is drilled for oil and gas, 10,000 to 20,000 more wells could be added. The Niobrara is a deep shale rock layer that requires hydraulic fracking to get out the oil and gas. As is the case with shale gas fracking across the U.S., the issue is extremely controversial in northern Colorado. Recently, cities and counties up and down the Front Range have been dealing with the consequences of drilling and fracking.
But sometimes, the people we elect seem to forget that. They’ve been
forgetting it a lot lately in Washington, DC and in too many of our
state capitols. But with your support, we keep reminding them how
important clean water is… to our health, to our quality of life, to our
economy and to our jobs!
This fall marked the 39th anniversary of the Clean Water Act — one of
our most successful environmental laws ever! The Clean Water Act has
restored lakes, rivers and streams around the country to health.
Because of this law, the Cuyahoga River doesn’t catch on fire, our Great
Lakes have come back to life, and thousands of rivers and streams are
healthier now than they’ve been in fifty years! But instead of
celebrating our progress, those of us who care about our water find
ourselves defending against an all-out assault.
we can’t live without clean water
It’s that simple. But sometimes, the people we elect seem to forget that. And they’ve been forgetting it a lot lately in Washington, DC and in too many of our state capitals.