Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - NACWA in the News
USA. Clean Water Trust Act to provide $7.35 billion to improve America’s waters
Monday, 19 December 2005
Mary Jane Williamson:
The American Sportfishing Association (ASA) applauds the
landmark legislation introduced by Chairman John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN) of the
House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee to address America’s growing
infrastructure funding crisis. The Clean Water Trust Act of 2005 (H.R. 4560)
will provide $7.35 billion annually to improve America’s waters.
The Clean Water Trust Act will:
help urban and rural communities protect public health and the environment by
restoring the federal-state-local financial partnership necessary to achieve the
goals of the Clean Water Act;
create a dedicated, deficit-neutral Clean Water Trust Fund, similar to those
that successfully finance highways and airports;
address the U.S. EPA’s estimated clean water funding gap $300-500 billion; and
guarantee that over 30 years of water quality progress under the Clean Water Act
is continued
“The Chairman has demonstrated his clear commitment to the health of the
nation’s fishery resources and the nation’s treasured waterways by introducing
this bill,” said Gordon C. Robertson, ASA’s vice president. “For years, the
American Sportfishing Association and the nation’s other leading recreational
fishing and marine conservation organizations have sought language to further
reduce non-point source pollution and improve upon the success of the original
Clean Water Act.” Robertson further said, “Chairman Duncan, by introducing this
legislation, has made a serious commitment to an innovative and practical
approach to improving water quality which has a direct impact on healthy fish
populations for the nation’s 44 million anglers.”
The Clean Water Trust Act will enhance fisheries through controlling sewer
overflows, improving wetlands, encouraging research, spurring new technologies,
enhancing investment in small and rural utilities and protecting critical
regional waters such as the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay and Gulf of Mexico.
Supporters of the legislation include: American Sportfishing Association,
Associated General Contractors of America, National Association of Towns and
Townships, Rural Community Assistance Partnership, Ducks Unlimited, Western
Coalition of Arid States, American Society of Civil Engineers, Theodore
Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, American Council of Engineering Companies,
Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Trout Unlimited, American Concrete
Pressure Pipe Association, Design Build Institute of America, Construction
Management Association of America, American Supply Association, Plastics Pipe
Institute, Underground Contractors Association, the International Association of
Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.
There is an aggressive grassroots campaign, via a new Web site dedicated to
supporting H.R. 4560, and a renewed federal investment in clean water called
Clean Water America (www.cleanwateramerica.org). Over one hundred organizations
and thousands of individuals from coast-to-coast have already joined Clean Water
America and have signed the Clean Water America petition calling for a
significant new federal investment in clean water.