Polluters’ allies, including Senators Cruz and Cornyn, unveil latest bid to strip renewed protections for drinking water sources

Environment Texas

Polluters’ allies, including Senators Cruz and Cornyn, unveil latest bid to strip renewed protections for drinking water sources

Moving on a top priority for corporate agribusiness, Senators Cruz and Cornyn cosponsored a resolution to invalidate EPA’s new Clean Water Rule, blocking protections to waterways that flow into the Edwards Aquifer, the Colorado River, the Trinity River and Galveston Bay.  Introduced under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), the measure would put drinking water sources for more than 11.5 million Texans once again beyond the protection of the Clean Water Act.

“Even as Texans fights to protect their drinking water from pollution, our Senators are attacking the biggest single step for safe drinking water in more than a decade,” said Sara E. Smith, staff attorney for Environment Texas. “The choice for senators on this measure is clear: defend our drinking water or do the bidding of polluters.”

The Clean Water Rule addresses loopholes created by Supreme Court decisions that left more than half the nation’s streams and millions of acres of wetlands without clear protection of the Clean Water Act.  The rule restores protection to waterways which help provide drinking water to one in every three Americans.