PHILADELPHIA—More than 58 percent of industrial
and municipal facilities across Pennsylvania exceeded their Clean Water Act
permit limits between January 2002 and June 2003, according to a
new report released today by PennEnvironment.
"Our decision-makers should be taking strong action
to address this illegal pollution, but the Bush administration has proposed
slashing the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) enforcement budget for
fiscal year 2005 and weakening critical Clean Water Act programs," charged
David Masur, Director for PennEnvironment. "At a time when our leaders
should be looking for solutions, the Bush administration has proposed taking
environmental cops off the beat and allowing more-not less-pollution to enter
our waterways," continued Masur.
While the 1972 Clean Water Act has made strides in cleaning
up U.S. waterways, the law's original goal of making all U.S. Waterways safe
for fishing, swimming and other uses by 1983 has not been attained. Using the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), PennEnvironment obtained data on facilities'
compliance with the Clean Water Act between January 1, 2002 and June 30, 2003.
PennEnvironment researchers found that:
Nationally, 60 percent of all major facilities
discharged pollution in excess of their permit limits at least once during the
18-month period studied. The average facility in violation exceeded its permit
limit by more than 600 percent, or six times the legal limit.
Nearly 60 percent of Pennsylvania's industrial
and municipal facilities exceeded their Clean Water Act permits at least once
over the period studied.
Polluters in Pennsylvania reported 1862 exceedances
of their Clean Water Act permits during the 18-month period, ranking the state
fourth in the country for most violations.
- On average, Pennsylvania facilities exceeding their
Clean Water Act permits did so by 119 percent.
- Polluters in Pennsylvania reported 125 instances in
which they exceeded their Clean Water Act permit by at least five times the
legal limit. This was the seventh highest ranking in the nation.
Masur noted that these findings are likely conservative,
since the data that PennEnvironment analyzed includes only "major"
facilities and does not include pollution discharged by hundreds of thousands
of minor facilities across the country.
PennEnvironment called on the Bush administration to
back off its efforts to weaken the Clean Water Act and to commit to strengthening,
rather than weakening, enforcement of this landmark legislation. In order to
achieve the goals of the Clean Water Act, PennEnvironment recommended the following:
Fully fund EPA's enforcement program to ensure
that we have enough environmental cops on the beat to identify and punish polluters
violating their Clean Water Act permits.
Strengthen the Clean Water Act by setting mandatory
minimum penalties, tightening permitted pollution limits, revoking permits from
repeat violators and allowing citizens full access to the courts.
Maintain and expand the public's right to know.
The public should have full access to detailed and easily searchable information
about enforcement of the Clean Water Act and pollution entering local waterways.
"Now more than ever, the Bush administration should
act in the best interest of the environment and public health and hold polluters
accountable to the Clean Water Act," concluded PennEnvironment's Masur.
PennEnvironment is a statewide environmental advocacy
organization. PennEnvironment is a non-profit and non-partisan organization.
