Washington, DC -- Today, Clean Water Action celebrated the inauguration of Joe Biden as the nation’s 46th President and Kamala Harris, a daughter of immigrants, as the nation’s first female Vice-President.
Clean Water Action President and CEO, Bob Wendelgass, released the following statement:
“Despite the challenges that the nation is facing, I am hopeful. Two weeks after the most grievous assault on our democracy in recent memory and after months of unfounded attacks on our elections, we are starting a new chapter. This chapter includes a woman of color serving as Vice-President in an Administration that has pledged a clean break from the past four years and bold action to take on historical injustices and protect our communities from the impacts of climate change. This is unequivocally good.
But the road ahead is long. The divisions stoked by Donald Trump and his allies remain. Landmark laws like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act have been weakened. Action to address the climate crisis has been hobbled. The economy for most of us is still weak and the pandemic is still raging. We must continue to work together to stand up against nationalist extremists, against racism, against police brutality, against genocide of native peoples, against environmental injustice, and against oppression in all its forms.
We are eager to get to work to protect our water and health, strengthen our democracy, and fight for justice. There is no time to waste -- voters made themselves heard in record numbers in November and demanded change. The Biden administration has proposed detailed plans to address a range of issues and has made lofty promises. We look forward to working with the Administration to make sure those plans are deployed and promises fulfilled. We’ll do everything we can to make sure that safeguarding our water, taking bold action on climate, and protecting our democracy are front and center of the agenda throughout the next four years.”
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Since our founding during the campaign to pass the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, Clean Water Action has worked to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table.
