US: Our air and water are under attack.
For decades, environmental laws like the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act have helped to ensure that our water is safe to drink and our air is safe to breathe. But we can’t take this for granted. These fundamental environmental protections are currently under attack. Proposed rules and legislation would make our air and water dirtier, leading to more health problems and increased healthcare costs.
Attacks on clean water
Historically, our nation’s waterways served as dumping grounds for everything from raw sewage to industrial chemicals. That all changed in 1972 when Congress passed the Clean Water Act. The CWA requires polluters to obtain permits in order to discharge pollutants into “navigable waters,” which are defined as “waters of the United States,” and the law requires states to develop plans for cleaning up already polluted waterways.
