Thelma Drake: Bad for Virginia's Water

Full Report

Who can protect Virginia’s water?

Virginians depend on clean water for drinking, recreation, farming and the preservation of healthy ecosystems for fish and wildlife. The drought of 2007 was a reminder of the importance of clean water—particularly at times when there is too little water to go around.

Virginia needs representatives in Congress who understand the importance of clean water to the state’s economy and our environment and will take on the polluters. Unfortunately, Rep. Thelma Drake has stood with George Bush and the polluters as they have worked to dismantle America’s protections for clean water.

The Bush administration’s assault on clean water

Since passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, America has made great progress toward cleaning up our nation’s waters. However, our rivers, lakes and streams are still in dire need of protection from industrial pollution, contaminated runoff, sewage overflows and a host of other threats. 

Even today, 47 percent of America’s assessed rivers and streams and 59 percent of our assessed lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming or other uses.[7] Polluters dumped more than 244 million pounds of toxic chemicals into American waterways in 2006.[8] And more than 850 billion gallons of raw or inadequately treated sewage are discharged into waterways each year.[9]

But under George Bush, America has taken a large step backward in the protection of our precious water supplies. Time and again, the Bush administration has pushed to roll back critical protections for clean water. President Bush:

• Moved to eliminate Clean Water Act protections for at least 57 percent of Virginia’s streams—waterways that are critical for a variety of wildlife and that feed the drinking water supplies of 3.3 million people.[10]

• Curtailed enforcement of the Clean Water Act. For example, major Virginia facilities exceeded their permitted amounts of water pollution more than 220 times in 2005.[11]

• Curbed the public’s right to know about toxic pollution of waterways by allowing polluters to conceal more information about their toxic discharges.[12]

• Put the interests of Big Oil ahead of the public by exempting the construction of oil and gas drilling sites from the Clean Water Act.[13]

Cleaning up America’s waterways

Americans deserve clean water and a healthy environment. To get there, we need to take a few common-sense steps:

• Restore Clean Water Act protections to all U.S. waterways, including source water streams and wetlands.

• Enforce the Clean Water Act to make sure polluters are following the law, reduce discharges of toxic chemicals, sewage and other pollution into waterways, and make polluters pay to clean up the damage they have caused.

• Invest in repairing outdated sewer systems and measures to reduce runoff pollution.

• Defend and expand the public’s right to know to know about the release of toxic pollution into our rivers, lakes and streams.

The 2008 election and clean water

Restoring America’s waterways to health won’t happen by itself. It will take strong leadership. Virginia’s representatives in Congress must be willing to stand up to the polluters and work for real solutions to protect the quality of our waterways.

Unfortunately, during her time in the U.S. House, Rep. Thelma Drake has voted consistently to weaken protections for America’s rivers, streams and lakes—putting our environment and the health of the public at risk.

Rep. Drake: No friend of clean water

Time and again, Rep. Drake has stood with George Bush and the polluters to weaken protections for America’s waterways. Rep. Drake:

• Voted to allow polluters to conceal more information about the 19.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals dumped each year into Virginia’s waterways[14]—undermining the public’s right to know about environmental threats.[15]

• Voted with George Bush to deny Clean Water Act protections to many streams and wetlands[16] at a time when 63 percent of Virginia’s assessed rivers and streams and 97 percent of Virginia’s assessed lakes are already too polluted for fishing, swimming or other uses.[17] 

• Voted to give Big Oil a free pass[18] to avoid liability for contamination from the toxic gasoline additive MTBE, which has fouled drinking water supplies serving 12,000 Virginia residents.[19]

Glenn Nye: The choice for Virginia

Virginians have a choice this November. To protect the health of Virginia’s waterways and our environment, Virginians in the 2th congressional district should elect Glenn Nye to the U.S. Congress.

About Environment Virginia

We all want clean air, clean water and open space. But it takes independent research and tough-minded advocacy to win concrete results for our environment, especially when powerful interests stand in the way of environmental progress. That's the idea behind Environment Virginia. We focus exclusively on protecting Virginia’s air, water and open space. We speak out and take action at the local, state and national levels to improve the quality of our environment and our lives.

Sources

[1] NO vote on Pallone amendment to HR 5386, Vote #165, 18 May 2006.

[2] Volume of toxic pollution from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, TRI Explorer: 2006 State Fact Sheet: Virginia, downloaded from www.epa.gov/triexplorer/statefactsheet.htm, 7 October 2008.

[3] NO vote on Oberstar amendment to HR 5386, Vote #169, 18 May 2006.

[4] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Virginia 2006 Water Quality Assessment Report, downloaded from http://iaspub.epa.gov/waters10/attains_index.control?p_area=VA, 7 October 2008.

[5] NO vote on Capps motion to strike, HR6, Vote #129, 21 April 2005.

[6]EWG Action Fund, Like Oil and Water: As Congress Considers Legal Immunity for Oil Companies More Communities Go to Court Over MTBE Pollution, April 2005.

[7] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Watershed Assessment, Tracking and Environmental Results: National Summary of State Information, downloaded from iaspub.epa.gov/waters10/attains_nation_cy.control, 7 October 2008.

[8] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, TRI Explorer: 2006 National Fact Sheet: United States, downloaded from www.epa.gov/cgi-bin/broker?view=STCO&trilib=TRIQ1&state=All+states&SFS=YES&year=2006&_service=oiaa&_program=xp_tri.sasmacr.tristart.macro, 7 October 2008.

[9] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Report to Congress on Impacts and Control of Combined Sewer Overflows and Sanitary Sewer Overflows: Fact Sheet, downloaded from www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/csosso_rtc_factsheet.pdf, 7 October 2008.

[10] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Table 1: State-by-State NHD Analysis of Stream Categories and Drinking Water Data, undated.

[11] Christy Leavitt, U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Troubled Waters: An Analysis of 2005 Clean Water Act Compliance, October 2007.

[12] “Toxics Release Inventory Burden Reduction Final Rule,” Federal Register 71:246, 76932-76945, 22 December 2006.

[13] “Amendments to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Regulations for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Processing, or Treatment Operations, or Transmission Facilities; Final Rule,” Federal Register, 71: 33628-33640, 12 June 2006.

[14] NO vote on Pallone amendment to HR 5386, Vote #165, 18 May 2006.

[15] Volume of toxic pollution from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, TRI Explorer: 2006 State Fact Sheet: Virginia, downloaded from www.epa.gov/triexplorer/statefactsheet.htm, 7 October 2008.

[16] NO vote on Oberstar amendment to HR 5386, Vote #169, 18 May 2006.

[17] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Virginia 2006 Water Quality Assessment Report, downloaded from http://iaspub.epa.gov/waters10/attains_index.control?p_area=VA, 7 October 2008.

[18] NO vote on Capps motion to strike, HR6, Vote #129, 21 April 2005.

[19]EWG Action Fund, Like Oil and Water: As Congress Considers Legal Immunity for Oil Companies More Communities Go to Court Over MTBE Pollution, April 2005.