Dear Guardian,
The logging industry is trying to call in its favors with Washington D.C. by circumventing crucial laws put in place that are meant to protect water from pollution!
Lets stop them from getting a special exemption from the Clean Water Act. Send an email to the Environmental Protection Agency and your Senators.
The powerful logging industry is upset because a federal court has determined that logging roads are a source of water pollution and has ordered that they must be regulated. In May 2011, the Ninth Circuit ruled that EPA regulations require Clean Water Act permits for polluted stormwater discharged from logging roads. In fact, logging road pollution is one of the more widespread and harmful sources of storm water pollution in the West.
The court’s ruling shed light on a privilege the industry has enjoyed for way too long, and these big businesses are not going to comply without a fight. That’s why we need your help to ensure water pollution is controlled from logging. Please add your voice to advocate for unpolluted water by sending your email today.
In response to the court case, the Obama Administration’s EPA recently announced it will update its regulations on logging road pollution. Sadly, the EPA is considering “flexible” options including not requiring permits for the nation's logging roads. This means continued deterioration of streams and rivers.
Please take a moment to email EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and ask her to ensure that logging road pollution be regulated under the Clean Water Act’s permit program.
For the Wilderness,
Bryan Bird
Wild Places Program Director
WildEarth Guardians
bbird@wildearthguardians.org
P.S. You can read
the 9th Circuit Court’s opinion and order here; learn
more about the legal case here; and follow
the Supreme Court proceedings here.
