Local Environmental Groups Praise New Clean Water Rules
By Kim Glovas
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Clean water advocates gathered today at the Philadelphia Water Works, on the banks of the Schuykill River, to celebrate newly announced rules under the Clean Water Act.
The new rules, announced last week by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, call for more protections of the nation's waterways, including headwaters that feed into larger rivers such as the Schuykill and Delaware.
"The rule making comes, honestly, after a decade of uncertainty over the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act, following Supreme Court challenges in 2001 and 2006," noted Penn Environment's Adam Garber, "and the rule restores these protections to eight million people's drinking water across the state of Pennsylvania."
However, Garber says, there are some members of Congress, including Pennsylvania's US senator Pat Toomey, who want to roll back the protections.
Clean Water Action says Congress must stop kowtowing to special interests that want to pollute the nation's waterways for private gain.
A call to Senator Toomey's office for comment was not returned.