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Water Quality

Water Resources Development Act Support and Recommendations

The Honorable John Barrasso Chairman Committee on Environment & Public Works United States Senate 410 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Thomas Carper Ranking Member Committee on Environment & Public Works United States Senate 410 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Peter DeFazio Chairman Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure... Read More

AFS Supports States in Clean Water Act Lawsuit

Seventeen states filed suit challenging the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California asserting that the NWPR is contrary to the Clean Water Act (CWA) and arbitrary and capricious, in part, because of the EPA’s and the Army Corps’ disregard of scientific evidence. The plaintiff’s asked... Read More

Clean Water Act Win in Supreme Court Maui Case

The Clean Water Act survived a significant challenge with a 6-3 decision U.S. Supreme Court in County of Maui v. Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund. At issue was whether the Clean Water Act (CWA) applies to a pollutant that reaches navigable waters only after it leaves a point source and then travels through groundwater before reaching navigable... Read More

The Work Continues on the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day

Dear Members of the American Fisheries Society Family, Fifty years ago, in the backyard of the American Fisheries Society’s (AFS), the Potomac River was filled with so much sewage it filled the air with a putrid, vile stench. Ohio’s polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire for the 13th time spurring an environmental revolution in the United... Read More

EPA Science Advisory Board Criticizes Waters of the US Revision

EPA’s Science Advisory Board (SAB) sharply criticized the agency’s recent decision to narrow the definition of the Waters of the US (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act in a letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on February 27. “In summary, current scientific understanding of the connectivity of surface and ground water, which has been reviewed... Read More

Aquatic Science Societies Criticize Revision of Definition of Waters of the US

American Fisheries Society ● Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation ● Freshwater Mollusk Conservation Society International Association for Great Lakes Research ● North American Lake Management Society Phycological Society of America ●  Society for Freshwater Science ● Society of Wetland Scientists   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 23, 2020... Read More

Science Prominent in Maui Groundwater Supreme Court Oral Arguments and Questions

Analysis and transcript of U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments and questions in County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund, including topics addressed in the aquatic science societies’ amicus brief. SCOTUSblog analysis: https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/11/argument-analysis-context-trumps-text-as-justices-debate-reach-of-clean-water-act/ Nina Totenberg’s report on NPR: https://www.npr.org/2019/11/06/776968335/supreme-court-justices-searching-for-a-compromise-in-major-environmental-case Oral argument transcript: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2019/18-260_m6hn.pdf Read More

Hunting, Fishing, and Conservation Groups Oppose Changes to Clean Water Act Section 401 Process

PDF version October 21, 2019 Administrator Andrew Wheeler Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20460 Submitted via regulations.gov RE: Comments on Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2019-0405 Dear Administrator Wheeler, On behalf of our millions of members and supporters, the undersigned hunting, fishing, and conservation groups write in opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s... Read More