Washington D.C. – In a move that shows just how relentless polluters and their allies in the current administration have become, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is once again advancing a proposal to undermine the Clean Water Act. The agency’s new proposal, which clean water advocates are calling the “Polluted Water Rule,” would strip protections from most wetlands and seasonal streams across the country, expanding the already severe losses caused by the Supreme Court’s Sackett v. EPA decision in 2023.
This latest rollback is part of a broader effort to weaken clean water safeguards piece by piece until polluters face virtually no guardrails at all. If enacted, the Polluted Water Rule would accelerate the destruction of wetlands, worsen water quality, and put the health of our communities — and the drinking water they depend on — at risk.
“The Polluted Water Rule is a blatant giveaway to polluters,” said Sean Jackson, National Water Campaigns Coordinator with Clean Water Action. “We will oppose this reckless action and demonstrate that the public opposes putting wetlands, streams, and drinking water sources at risk to benefit special interests.”
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Since the organization’s founding during the campaign to pass the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, Clean Water Action has worked to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking, and people power to the table. Learn more at cleanwater.org
