Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling E.P.A.

Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Foiling E.P.A.

www.nytimes.com

Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act’s reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators.

As a result, some businesses are declaring that the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising.

Companies that have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters are not being prosecuted, according to Environmental Protection Agency regulators working on those cases, who estimate that more than 1,500 major pollut

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Looks like the Supreme Court is siding with polluters, at least by default. By not specifying clearly enough what waterways are protected by the Clean Water Act, the law has apparently enabled companies which want to pollute the water supply to go ahead and do so unless stopped by the E.P.A.

Not having to comply with the Clean Water Act saves the companies big bucks, and that seems to be the main consideration.

This Supreme Court has already proved it usually sides with the big money.

Now we all have to worry about our water supply.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

I really fail to understand why all waterways aren't protected by the clean water act... Isn't there anywhere a better way to dispose of waste?

Originally posted by Solasis
... Isn't there anywhere a better way to dispose of waste?

Not while maintaining a huge profit margin. That would be wasteful... just check the spreadsheet...

The corporations are "bound" by their charters to enrich their owners. Their owners can influence laws because of their wealth. It's a recipe for abuse.

reply to post by Solasis

You can put waste into the ground. Nobody wants a landfill near their home, though. And eventually ground waste can seep into the water supply.

It's a difficult problem, but one we can't ignore.

About 117 million Americans get their drinking water from sources fed by waters that are vulnerable to exclusion from the Clean Water Act, according to E.P.A. reports.

The EPA is THE most corrupt government agency! They have NO real science to back 90% of their edicts and have managed to ruin more small businesses using junk science than any other government entity. Every time I hear that they some how have been thwarted in their efforts I stand up and applaud!
SCREW THEM THEY ARE SCUM!!!


Zindo

reply to post by ZindoDoone


www.corpwatch.org...

Instead, the EPA created a new category of "low-risk" plants, putting the agency in the role of overseeing, plant by plant, which facilities endangered the public. The rule initially exempts eight wood products plants from controls on formaldehyde and other emissions. Ultimately, 147 or more of the 223 facilities nationwide could avoid the pollution-control requirements. The exemptions will save the industry as much as $66 million annually for about 10 years in potential emission control costs. The idea of identifying low-risk plants was suggested to the EPA by a lawyer at the firm of Latham & Watkins, which represents timber interests.

The EPA is not only in bed with fascist corporations but has been testing pollution on human subjects just as corporate junk science has done:

www.ahrp.org...

It is significant that the German pharmaceutical / pesticide company that was most intimately involved in experiments that tested its products on inmates in the Nazi concentration camps, [14] is the catalyst for affecting a radical policy change to further its business interests.

The co-chairman of the EPA Science Advisory Board in 1998 had conducted air pollutant experiments on human subjects at the University of Rochester, resulting in the death of an 18 year old student.19

[19] Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): Backgrounder: EPA reverses ban on testing pesticides on human subjects, November 2001 www.nrdc.org...

reply to post by drew hempel

Thanks for the links.

The use of human beings in pesticide and other toxic chemical tests is totally unethical. It violates every code established by the U.N. and others in the international community. The Nuremberg trials after World War II, for example, tried several doctors who had experimented on human subjects.

It is especially shocking that some of these experiments have occurred in the United States.