Today the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted to send Gina McCarthy’s nomination to be Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the full Senate for confirmation. Clean Water Action congratulates Chairwoman Boxer and the committee and urges the Senate to confirm Ms. McCarthy as soon as possible.
Clean Water Action President & CEO released this statement:
“The Republican boycott of Gina McCarthy is absolutely unacceptable to the American people. It shows Senator David Vitter and his GOP colleagues on the committee are more interested in scoring ideological points than governing. Gina McCarthy is known as a common-sense policy expert and an effective manager and she has worked under both Republican and Democratic Governors. Her work at EPA over the last several years demonstrates extraordinary stakeholder engagement and transparency. She deserves a vote. And Americans deserve better from their elected officials."
Includes options protecting waters from toxic pollution as well as weaker standards that maintain the status quo
Washington, D.C. – The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a number of regulatory options late last Friday night, known as steam electric effluent limitation guidelines for power plants, two of which will finally clean up water pollution from hundreds of power plants.
Power plant water discharges are filled with toxic pollution such as mercury, arsenic, lead, and selenium – heavy metals that can cause neurological and developmental damage, cause harm in utero, damage internal organs and cause cancer. Power plants are the biggest sources of water pollution in the country, yet the EPA has not reviewed regulations for this industry in more than 30 years. To address this unacceptable delay, environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 2010 to force the EPA to take action and regulate this dirty industry.
BOSTON, MA – While the state of California has just released aggressive new rules that will safely recycle hundreds of thousands of mercury-laden thermostats, thermostat recycling legislation is pending in the Massachusetts House of Representatives that is weak and ineffective, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, Clean Water Action and Sierra Club.