Jennifer Peters - Water Programs Director

In states across the country, Clean Water Action is tackling the PFAS pollution problem. PFAS (per- and polyflyoroalkyl substances) is known as the "forever chemical" because it persists in the environment and in our bodies. It is associated with a range of health harms from cancers to liver impacts to reproductive issues.  PFAS can impact communities in a variety of ways so we will be share updates from spots across the country in the coming weeks to highlight some of these local impacts. Stay tuned and let us know if you'd like to get involved locally!

On Thursday, December 19th I participated in a "virtual" public hearing on the Trump administration's dangerous plan to let dirty power plants dump even more pollution into our rivers, putting more communities at risk. These rollbacks will impact communities across the country. Despite this, EPA decided not to host an in-person hearing on this issue, deciding instead to host the virtual hearing in the middle of the holiday season. This is not the type of meaningful engagement that communities deserve.

Below is what I told EPA. Please read it and then send a message to EPA!

On September 6, 2019 Denver Water submitted its final Lead Reduction Program Plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This groundbreaking plan is an alternative to a mandate from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE) that Denver Water treat its water with orthophosphate.

Visit South Platte River Park in Littleton, Colorado (a suburb a few miles south of Denver) on a summer weekend and you’ll likely see dozens of people paddling, wading, fishing, or tubing on the river. A few weeks ago I was one of those tubers enjoying higher than normal flows on the South Platte, thanks to the high snowpack this past winter. As we floated on riffles and gentle rapids, families of ducks grazed at the river’s edge and trout swam beneath us. Occasionally we got caught on someone’s fishing line or bumped tubes in crowded sections of the river.

On April 10th, Trump issued an Executive Order that limits states’ ability to protect their own water resources from harmful pipelines and other dirty energy projects.

This week advocates and activists are in Kansas City, Kansas for the one and only public hearing the Environmental Protection Agency scheduled for it's scheme to strip protections from millions of miles of streams and more than half the wetlands across the nation. Clean Water Action was there as well. This is my testimony to EPA about the Dirty Water Rule. You can watch my testimony here (video courtesy of our friends NWF Water)

Everything I did in the first five minutes after getting out of bed this morning would not have been possible without water and the critical infrastructure that delivers it to my home.

Today is a big day for clean water -- a federal court told the Trump administration that it went too far when it suspended enforcement of protections for streams and wetlands. Clean Water Action, along with more than a dozen other plaintiffs, challenged EPA's illegal 2-year suspension of the Clean Water Rule. And we won.

Scott Pruitt is failing our children -- on purpose.

Trump’s proposed budget would be a disaster for our nation’s water. This isn't surprising - the Trump administration has worked to undermine common sense protections for our water and health since inauguration day. But this budget is particularly shortsighted and just plain mean.