A federal bill called the PERMIT Act proposes to eviscerate the Clean Water Act’s most important protections under the guise of “promoting efficient review for modern infrastructure.”
In reality, the PERMIT Act abandons the Clean Water Act’s goal to eliminate pollution into our nation’s waters. Instead, it bows to polluter requests to ease pollution restrictions where polluters think installing clean water technology cuts too deeply into profit margins. And it drastically slashes the public’s opportunities to weigh in on local water pollution issues. This legislation would be devastating to our coasts and our lakes, rivers, and streams.
Here are some of the terrible things the PERMIT Act would do:
- It directs states to sacrifice public health for “cost effective” water pollution levels. The Clean Water Act states that water quality standards--the level of pollution allowed in waters--should be set at a level that will protect the public health and enhance water quality. The PERMIT Act directs states to review water quality standards for all waters polluted by combined sewer systems, like those in San Francisco, New York City, and Buffalo. The PERMIT Act requires states to lower water quality standards to those that are “cost effective” for combined sewer systems to achieve. This effectively prioritizes cost over public health, putting our health in jeopardy.
- It eviscerates public participation opportunities. The Clean Water Act dictates that pollution permits last for five years. After that, polluters need to apply for a new permit with opportunities for public input. The PERMIT Act extends permit terms to TEN YEARS, meaning the public has to wait a full decade before getting a chance to weigh in on the pollution permit.
- It undermines the Clean Water Act’s goal of relying on technology advancements to reduce water pollution. The Clean Water Act was designed as a technology-forcing statute. The idea is that every five years permit writers would evaluate improvements in technology to treat and offload pollution from our waterways. Permits would require this new technology and would lower the amount of pollution dischargers can put in our waterways. In fact, Congress was so confident that technology would be the silver bullet for pollution-reduction, that it set the Clean Water Act’s goal as eliminating pollution into our nation’s waterways by 1985! The Clean Water Act also directs permits to set pollution limits at levels that protect water quality to motivate innovators and inventors to create new technologies to meet the pollution-reduction needs. The PERMIT Act flips this requirement on its head. It directs states to only set water quality standards and permit limits based on the availability and cost-effectiveness of existing technologies to meet limits--NOT on what levels are protective of public health and aquatic life.
- It gives polluters a free pass to dump some pollutants into our waters in unlimited quantities. The Clean Water Act has a section called a “permit shield” that protects polluters from being sued for pollution allowed in its Clean Water Act permit. Typically, polluters disclose what type of pollutants are in their discharge, and a state agency issues a permit limiting how much of each pollutant can be dumped into the water. Sometimes polluters don’t disclose all the different types of pollutants in its wastewater. Concerned groups have occasionally sued the polluters for dumping into waterways pollutants that aren’t included in their permit because the polluter is not authorized to put that pollutant into the waterway. The PERMIT Act will extend the “permit shield” to protect polluters from liability over discharges of pollutants that are not covered by the permit. That means polluters are free to dump an unlimited amount of pollution into our waterways for pollutants that aren’t specifically listed in their permits! This terrible provision encourages facilities to hide the true nature of the pollutants in their discharges and puts polluters’ pocketbooks over public safety.
Please join Surfrider and our friends at Clean Water Action in calling on our Congress members to reject this terrible legislation. The PERMIT Act grants polluters’ wish list by sacrificing public health, our aquatic life, and clean water. Contact your federal representative today and make your opposition known by clicking this link.