Front Porch Blog

Clean Water Protection Act Introduced with 45 Cosponsors

Yesterday, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA) introduced the Clean Water Protection Act in the 113th Congress with 45 original cosponsors.

The Clean Water Protection Act, H.R. 1837, is a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives which would sharply reduce mountaintop removal coal mining by making it illegal to dump mining waste into valleys and streams. To date, more than 2,000 miles of streams have been buried or severely polluted.

As the bill sponsors point out in their Dear Colleague letter to other members of Congress:

An EPA scientific study in 2008 shows that more than 63% of the streams sampled below mountaintop removal coal mining operations exhibited long-term impairments to aquatic organisms. In some large watersheds, more than half of the streams are impaired.

Last Congress, more than 130 representatives, from Kentucky to Hawaii, took a stand against mountaintop removal coal mining by cosponsoring the Clean Water Protection Act.

It is crucial that we carry over the momentum we built during the last Congress by having a large group of cosponsors. For your Representative to sign onto the bill, they need to hear from you.

Take action now and tell your Congressperson you expect their support of this important legislation.

About Thom Kay

AV's Legislative Director, Thom spends his days between Durham, NC and Washington D.C., knee deep in politics and legislation, working to persuade decision-makers to protect Appalachian communities from mountaintop removal and to invest in a new economy for the region. He is the least outdoorsy person at Appalachian Voices, and he's just fine with that.


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23 COMMENTS
  1. Russ Leopard says:

    Please pass HR 1837!

  2. Deirdre Morris says:

    Please support the Clean Water Protection Act which sharply reduces mountain top removal coal mining. Thank you for your attention in this matter.

  3. Kelly Allison says:

    If mountaintop removal is not to be outlawed, it must be regulated. Do not allow them exemptions from the acts that preserve clean water and air.

  4. Susan Lovejoy says:

    Mountain top removal is morally reprehensible! Please support HR 1837 for the future of our planet and our lives and those of our children and their children.

  5. We need clean water more than we need coal. Stop the dirty coal mining and switch to renewable energy. In the long run it is more cost effective.

  6. jak brewer says:

    well Rep Virginia Foxx you told me you believed in the need for CLEAN WATER, now is your chance to prove it or was that another lie like the one about preserving endangered species?

  7. Rich Moser says:

    People over profits!

  8. Marlene says:

    Yesterday, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA) introduced the Clean Water Protection Act in the 113th Congress with 45 original cosponsors.

    The Clean Water Protection Act, H.R. 1837, is a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives which would sharply reduce mountaintop removal coal mining by making it illegal to dump mining waste into valleys and streams. To date, more than 2,000 miles of streams have been buried or severely polluted.

  9. MR. & MRS. BRUCE REVESZ says:

    MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL IS THE WRONG WAY TO GO! IT IS THE RAPE OF THE ENVIRONMENT!

  10. WE ARE URGING YOU TO NOT ONLY VOTE FOR HR 1837 BUT BECOME A CO-SPONSOR TOO!

  11. Judith Layman says:

    We need to convert to wind and solar and geothermal energy–and FAST, given the sobering recent news of 400ppm carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Coal has no place in our future except as a reminder of the time when humans thought cheap, easy fossil fuel was a gift that would last forever.

    Please uphold H.R. 1837!

  12. Ann Kieffer says:

    Please support the Clean Water Protection Act, HR 1837. Our mountain streams are like the lifeblood of our planet. Future generations will benefit from healthier water by ending mountain top removal and phasing out coal burning power plants with coal ash ponds poised on the banks of our major rivers. The development of clean, renewable energy sources will assure clean waves in the future.

  13. Ann Kieffer says:

    Please support the Clean Water Protection Act, HR 1837. Future generations will benefit from healthier water by ending mountain top removal and phasing out coal burning power plants with coal ash ponds poised on the banks of our major rivers.

  14. Ann Kieffer says:

    Please support HR 1837. Future generations will benefit from healthier water by ending mountain top removal and phasing out coal burning power plants with coal ash ponds poised on the banks of our major rivers.

  15. Ann Kieffer says:

    By supporting HR 1837 future generations will benefit from healthier water by ending mountain top removal and phasing out coal burning power plants with coal ash ponds poised on the banks of our major rivers.

  16. Ann Kieffer says:

    Supporting HR 1837 helps end mountain top removal and phasing out coal burning power plants with coal ash ponds poised on the banks of our major rivers.

  17. Clean, potable, water is essential for life. Coal energy and even electricity are not. We need to ban anything that threatens the few sources of clean water;
    be they fracking, mountaintop removal, mining and drilling, or other actions.

    Fossil Fuel has served us well, fueling the industrial revolution and improving our way of life. But it also contributed to global warming and threatens our health with air and water pollution. We now have sources of clean, alternative fuels. The age of fossil fuel is over.

  18. Laura Nevins says:

    Just saying “mountain top removal” sounds outrageous. It is disrespectful to the gift of the land that we are lucky enough to have. It is ethically unconscionable to knowingly poison our population and our planet. Coal is completely outdated and unnecessary and only in the interest of elite corporate greed. Enough is enough, support H.R. 1837. You were elected to act in our best interest, so protect and preserve our health.

  19. john pasqua says:

    we all need clean water.

  20. MaryinChicago says:

    David Leithauser (above) is too modest: we ACTUALLY need clean water more than we need coal OR oil OR natural gas. That’s why mountaintop removal coal mining AND tar-sands oil AND horizontal hydraulic fracking for natural gas are ALL horrendous technologies…because they ALL waste unimaginable quantities of clean, fresh water!

  21. Janet Martucci says:

    Please support HR1837. The devastation of mountaintop removal in UNDENIABLE. It’s time to stop the blasting, stop polluting the streams, and stop poisoning people and wildlife.

  22. brian says:

    Hi Everyone,

    Thank you so much for your thoughtful comments. Please take a moment to contact your representatives and ask them to cosponsor this bill. It may be the simplest bill they ever read. It aims to restore the original language and intent of the Clean Water Act to prevent the dumping of coal mining waste, what most of us call “mountain,” into valleys where it pollutes water and buries headwater streams.

    Here is the link to easily contact your rep.https://ilovemountains.org/write-your-rep/

    Go here for more info and to see if they’re signed on to the bill: https://ilovemountains.org/clean-water-protection-act

    Thanks!

  23. What’s up every one, here every one is sharing these kinds of know-how, so it’s good to read this blog,
    and I used to go to see this website everyday.

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