Deadline Extended for 1st Round Voting!

Yesterday Change.org announced they would extend the first round of voting in their "Ideas for Change in America" competition for one more week. We now have until February 25th to make clean, safe water a priority for change in America.

If you have not voted already, please join your fellow Clean Water Action supporters and help push our ideas into the second round of voting. It's easy. It's quick, and, best of all, it's free!

From Minnesota Public Radio

A New York Times series on America's water supply is raising serious concerns about the amount of unregulated chemicals in the country's drinking water and the EPA's outdated monitoring system.

Guests

• Jane Houlihan: Vice president for research at the Environmental Working Group.
• Lynn Thorp: National campaign coordinator and senior policy specialist for Clean Water Action.

A Consumer's Union investigation found Bisphenol A, a hormone-disrupting chemical, in several major food and products some of which were marked "BPA free."

Clean Water Action's Mia Davis is interviewed in this report on the NBC Nightly News.

Learn more about BPA in the report Baby's Toxic Bottle

The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) passed the Clean Water Restoration Act by a party line vote of 12 - 7 on June 18, 2009. The US House, which has yet to take action on legislation to restore the historic protections of the Clean Water Act, is expected to begin the process this fall when the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will introduce a version similar to that passed by the Senate EPW.

Take Action: Tell your Representative to fix the Clean Water Act.

On September 29, 2009, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson spoke to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. In her remarks Administrator Jackson declared "updating our country's regulations and laws on chemicals and toxics" to be of the highest priority saying "...understanding the risks posed by chemicals, and doing our utmost to make sure they are safe" was essential to restoring the public's trust in the EPA, to protecting our children, and to growing our economy.

Myth 1: The Clean Water Restoration Act (Restoration Act) goes too far - even protecting birdbaths, mud puddles and ditches.

Reality: The Restoration Act does not add any new protections to waters and wetlands beyond those protected under the Clean Water Act prior to 2001.

The Clean Water Act was never meant to protect birdbaths and mud puddles and the Restoration Act will not result in any such thing. The bill simply reaffirms the historic scope of the Clean Water Act as it has been understood by the Congress, the courts and the public since it was passed in 1972.

Learn a little more about Clean Water Action's history, our mission, and vision for the future. Find ways you can get involved and become a Clean Water Action member.

In the 1940s, plastics manufacturers started using a new, untested chemical. Known as Bisphenol-A (BPA), the chemical quickly became a popular choice for the production of hard polycarbonate plastic and epoxy liners in metal food containers. BPA is still used for the same thing today, and is found in reusable water bottles, baby bottles, CDs, DVDs, electrical equipment, sports equipment, automobiles and more. BPA is still used in the epoxy liners for metal food cans.

Six-legged frogs may seem a better fit for the Sci-Fi Channel than PBS, but these creatures are no product of the imagination. They are a very real reminder that America's waters are poisoned.

Legislation introduced in the United States Senate April 2 would restore critical Clean Water Act protections lost through six years of confusing and contradictory court and government agency decisions.

The Clean Water Restoration Act was introduced by Sen. Russell Feingold, D-WI, and several co-sponsors.

Restoring the ability of the Clean Water Act to protect water resources must top Congress' water agenda. Supreme Court and agency decisions put at risk Clean Water Act protections for headwater, intermittent and ephemeral streams that supply drinking water systems that serve more than 110 million Americans. In total, 59 percent of the nation's waterways and millions of acres of wetlands are currently at risk.