As the new home of OSPIRG's environmental work, Environment Oregon can be contacted regarding this news release.
PORTLAND—In a victory
for clean water, the U.S. EPA announced today that the agency is withdrawing
its controversial sewage dumping policy that would have let inadequately treated
sewage flow into America's lakes and rivers.
The EPA announced its decision just hours before a scheduled vote in the U.S.
House of Representatives to block the EPA's sewage dumping proposal from being
finalized. We applaud Representatives Bart Stupak (MI), Clay Shaw (FL), Frank
Pallone (NJ) and Jeff Miller (FL) for championing this bipartisan amendment
to protect public health and the environment.
"This EPA announcement demonstrates that releasing barely treated sewage
into rivers and lakes is an attack on our environment that even the Bush administration
cannot stomach," said OSPIRG's Rhett Lawrence.
Lawrence noted that Americans rely on our waterways for safe drinking water,
and for clean places to swim, boat and fish. This decision shows that citizens'
concern for clean water can trump Washington politics. It is remarkable that
the same administration that has otherwise turned back the clock on 30 years
of environmental progress has withdrawn this dangerous dirty water proposal.
Every year, nearly 8 million Americans become sick from waterborne diseases.
If the EPA's so-called "blending" proposal had become federal policy,
more people would have been exposed to bacteria, viruses, toxics and other pollutants
found in sewage when drinking water or swimming and fishing in local waterways.
Research conducted at Michigan State University has shown that "blended"
sewage has 100-1000 times greater health risks than fully treated sewage.
A bipartisan group of 135 Members of Congress, state agencies in Connecticut,
Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Washington, public
health officials, doctors, shellfish growers, environmental groups, and tens
of thousands of citizens have called on the EPA to dump this unsafe and irresponsible
policy.
"This decision is a critical step toward stopping sewage from being released
in waterways around the country. The EPA should take this opportunity to further
protect our waters by ensuring and enforcing full treatment for all sewage,"
concluded Rhett Lawrence.
OSPIRG
is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organization with more
than 28,000 members across the state of Oregon.
