Clean Water Violations Run Amok

[AnnInLa]

Report: Clean Water violations run amok
Erin Kelly
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON - More than 60 percent of the nation's biggest factories and sewage plants have violated the Clean Water Act by spewing pollution into the nation's rivers, lakes and bays, according to a report released Thursday.

That's no better than a similar report the U.S. Public Interest Research Group issued two years ago.



Polluters don't have much incentive to improve because the fines for violating the law aren't usually high enough to significantly cut into profits, environmentalists say.
"All Americans deserve clean water to drink and safe places to swim and fish," said Christy Leavitt, who wrote the latest PIRG report.

When Congress passed the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, it set the goal of making all U.S. waterways safe for fishing and swimming by 1983. Today, 39 percent of rivers, 46 percent of lakes, and 51 percent of estuaries have not met that goal. More at:

http://www.acadiananow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060324/NEWS01/603240305/1002

[CottonBear]

1. This is because Republicans are running amok. n/t