Contact:
Leon Szeptycki
General Counsel
Trout Unlimited
434-984-4919
2/27/2003 -- Arlington, VA -- Trout Unlimited, the nation's largest coldwater fisheries conservation organization, today announced its support of the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act.
The bill was introduced today in the Senate by Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jim Jeffords (I-VT), and in the House by Representatives James Oberstar (D-MN), John Dingell (D-MI), Jim Leach (R-IA) and Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY).
"For the last 30 years Americans have come to take the protections of the Clean Water Act for granted," said Charles Gauvin, President and CEO of Trout Unlimited. "The Clean Water Authority Restoration Act makes clear what Congress intended when it passed the Clean Water Act in the first place - that the Act's protections apply to the broadest range of waters possible."
The purpose of the bill is to restore the full authority of the Clean Water Act in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision restricting that authority in the Solid Waste Authority of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) case. This decision, and interpretation of it by the Army Corps of Engineers and EPA, could allow the development and loss of expose potentially millions of acres of wetlands.
"The Clean Water Act has been critical to fisheries recovery in the United States, and any rollback in the scope of the Act would be a serious blow to our trout and salmon watersheds," Gauvin said. "Trout Unlimited strongly supports the bill, and we applaud the sponsors of the bill for their strong conservation leadership."
For more information: Leon Szeptycki, 434-984-4919; Steve Moyer, 703-284-9406
Date: 2/27/2003