Please consider adding your organizations name to this Sign On letter to support Rural Coalitions & its member and allies comments urging the EPA to finalize Waters of the United States under the Clean Water Act To sign-on fill out form HERE If you have any issues with the form please email [email protected] with your Organizational Name, City, State, and Contact Person Name. Thank you to those that have already signed-on! Dear Administrator McCarthy, We the undersigned, who use and depend on our rivers systems from the headwaters, wetlands and tributaries to floodplains and bays, call on you to put the Clean Water Act (CWA) back to work on all U.S. waters. We join our diverse voices with the farmers, ranchers, and other rural leaders quoted herein and undersigned, in a joint call to EPA to restore clarity by approving a final Waters of the USA rule. We support the rule for the reasons Mr. Alfonzo Abeyta, a fifth generation Colorado rancher, highlights in a new video on why restoring CWA[1] protection is important for agriculture and rural communities: [1] Farmers know that everything is connected. Snow from the mountains feeds the streams. The streams feed the rivers. The rivers feed us. You cant grow food without water... without water nothing survives... it is our job to protect it. (rmfu.org/colorado-farmer-r-e-m-featured-in-waters-of-the-u-s-video/) We support the Clean Water Act because it has worked -in every state- improving water quality, stemming the loss of wetlands and safeguarding streams, lakes and wetlands. That is, it worked until two Supreme Court decisions-Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) v. Army Corps of Engineers (2001) and Rapanos v. United States (2006)-created uncertainty regarding what waters are protected, and curtailed CWAs scope. Water is the lifeblood for agriculture, small businesses and recreation. We dont want to go back to the day when two-thirds of our waterways were too polluted for fishing, swimming or drinking. Therefore those of us in rural communities, agriculture and other small business need the full protection of the Clean Water Act restored to the countless miles of tributary and seasonal streams, wetlands and rivers that sustain our communities. Communities need a strong CWA to address severe and continuing threats like chemicals from mining operations that leaked arsenic into the Alamosa River in Colorado, killing all the fish and compromising the water supply; the arsenic, boron, chromium, and manganese from coal ash, dumped for years into the Dan River by Duke Energy, exceeding the facilitys compliance boundary and polluting rural water supplies; as well as the tides of phosphorus washed from fertilized farms, cattle feedlots and leaky septic systems upstream that contributed to an algae bloom in Lake Erie which compromised water sources for the cities. We are concerned about the growing contamination in many areas that leaves waterways still too polluted to sustain agriculture, recreation and many other uses. As producers and others who depend on clean water, we know well that how water is cared for upstream affects river systems downstream. Small streams feed our local sources of drinking water and support traditional irrigation systems and agriculture for tribal, acequia, historic land grant and our diverse farming communities. Wetlands protect our communities from flooding, and support fish, wildlife, livestock and recreation. The entire river system provides drinking water sources in rural areas and cities alike, and is vital to small businesses[2] as well. We support the rule because we recognize our shared responsibility to protect our entire river systems- including the streams and wetlands that nourish the rivers-for fishing, boating, recreation, flood control, local water systems and to meet the needs of our communities, our farmers, ranches and fishers, our businesses, and protect these bioregions for future generations. Many of the undersigned groups have submitted their own comments supporting the completion of the rulemaking process while proposing specific and beneficial improvements. We believe EPA should take these views into account in issuing the final rule. As farmers and small businesses that share the water, we need a regulatory scheme that is clear, predictable, timely, and focused on protecting aquatic resources. We support the rules exemptions for commonplace farm and ranch operations and incentives for voluntary conservation practices. We also urge EPA and NRCS to review and retain all of the exemptions and exclusions from the Clean Water Act for the farming and agriculture community including exempting them from the need to obtain a 404 permit when using any of 56 conservation practices - practices that are good for farmers, ranchers, and for clean water. We further urge the EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers and the USDA Natural Resources and Conservation Service to strengthen protections and include resources in the rule to protect the rights of Tribal nations and traditional acequia and land grant communities, to uphold requirements for tribal consultation and action, and to help acequia and land grant communities and all diverse farmers and ranchers comply with the rule. We all-in the agriculture, rural, environmental, conservation, sports men and women and business communities-support this rule and accept our shared responsibility to protect the water that one in three people in this nation depend upon to live. Final approval of the Waters of the U.S. rule - with improvements proposed in the comment process - would provide clarity that we as a society depend up clean water and the essential benefits that it brings to communities, residents, fish, wildlife, and plants. We urge you to finalize this rule expeditiously to restore protections to many of the waters originally protected by the Clean Water Act and ensure the health of our waterways. We dont want to go backwards. Sincerely, Signers to date: Rural Coalition/Coalición Rural, Washington, DC National Hmong American Farmers, Inc.,Fresno, CA National Latino Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association, Washington, DC American Federation of Government Employees Local 3354 Saint Louis, MO Damascus Citizens for Sustainability Narrowsburg, NY Fair World Project Portland, OR Farmworker Association of Florida Apopka, FL Jesus People Against Pollution P.O. Box 765, Mississippi North Carolina Association of Black Farmers Land Loss Prevention Project, Durham, NC Northwest Forest Worker Center Albany, CA Pesticide Action Network Oakland, CA Rural Advancement Fund, Orangeburg, SC The Second Chance Foundation New York, NY World Farmers Lancaster, MA [1] Video clip (1:10-1:22): Farmers know that everything is connected. Snow from the mountains feed the streams. The streams feed the rivers. The rivers feed us. You cant grow food without water... it is our job to protect it. (rmfu.org/colorado-farmer-r-e-m-featured-in-waters-of-the-u-s-video/) [2]A national scientific poll conducted for the American Sustainable Business Council found 80% of small business owners favor federal protection of upstream headwaters and wetlands as proposed in the new Waters of the U.S. rule. Support for clean water was broad and deep regardless of political affiliation-78% of Republicans and 73% of independents, joined 91% of Democrats in supporting the clarifying of federal rules to apply to headland waters and wetlands. 71% of small business owners said that clean water is necessary for jobs and a healthy economy, 67% are concerned that water pollution could hurt their business in the future and 62% say that government regulation is needed to prevent water pollution. (Poll conducted by Lake Research Partners, on June 4-10, 2014, of small business owners (2 to 99 employees), with a margin of error of +/- 4.2%, is available online here: bit.ly/CleanWaterReport To sign-on fill out form HERE If you have any issues with the form please email [email protected] with your Organizations Name, City, State, and Contact Person Name. Thank you for your continuous support, Rural Coalition/ Coalicion Rural We encourage you all to: follow us on Twitter @Ruralco like us on Facebook/RuralCoalition REMEMBER- NO FARMS, NO FOOD!!! This alert is sent out by: Rural Coalition 1029 Vermont Ave Suite 601 Washington, DC 20005 Ruralco.org, Facebook,Twitter Please send any questions or feedback to [email protected]
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 19:07:47 +0000
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