News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 23, 2006 | CONTACT:
Cathleen Breen, (212) 349-6460 |
Polluters Foul New York's Waters;
78% Percent Exceeded Clean Water Act Pollution Limits in Recent 18-Month Period
New York, New York— More than 78% percent of industrial and municipal facilities across New York State discharged more pollution into our waterways than their Clean Water Act permits allow between July 2003 and December 2004, according to Troubled Waters: An Analysis of Clean Water Act Compliance, a new report released today by the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG).
"Polluters are using America's waters as their dumping ground. Instead of solving the problem, the Bush administration is slashing the EPA's budget and weakening critical clean water programs," said NYPIRG Watershed Protection Coordinator Cathleen Breen.
While the 1972 Clean Water Act has made significant strides in cleaning up U.S. waterways, the law's goals of eliminating the discharge of pollutants into waterways by 1985 and making all U.S. waters safe for fishing, swimming and other uses by 1983 have not been reached. Today, more than 40 percent of U.S. waterways are unsafe for swimming and fishing. In New York, more than 14% percent of rivers and 75% percent of lakes are impaired.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, NYPIRG obtained data on facilities' compliance with the Clean Water Act between July 1, 2003 and December 31, 2004. NYPIRG researchers found that polluters repeatedly exceeded their permit limits, often by egregious amounts.
Additional findings include:
- Nationally, 62 percent of all major industrial and municipal facilities discharged more pollution into U.S. waterways than their permits allow at least once during the 18-month period studied. The average facility exceeded its pollution permit limit by more than 275 percent, almost four times the legal limit.
- More than 78% of New York's industrial and municipal facilities exceeded their Clean Water Act permits at least once between July 1, 2003 and December 31, 2004. New York ranks fourth in the country for percentage of facilities exceeding their pollution permits.
- 271 facilities in New York reported more than 2,000 exceedances of their Clean Water Act permits during the 18-month period, ranking New York third in the country for the most exceedances.
- 18 facilities in Erie County; 15 in Niagara; 12 in Orange; 11 each in Oswego and Saint Lawrence, and 10 in Nassau County exceeded their Clean Water Act permit at least once during this period. In the unfiltered drinking water supply of the New York City Watershed, the Yorktown Heights SD WWTP exceeded its permit 13 out of 18 reporting periods.
"All Americans deserve clean water to drink and safe places to swim and fish. To clean up our waterways, this continuing pollution must stop," said Ms. Breen.
Ms. Breen noted that the findings are likely conservative, since the data that NYPIRG analyzed includes only "major" facilities and does not include pollution discharged into waters by the hundreds of thousands of minor facilities across the country.
NYPIRG called on the Bush administration to back off its efforts to weaken the Clean Water Act and to commit to strengthening enforcement of this landmark legislation.
In addition, NYPIRG applauded Senator Schumer and House Representatives Bishop, Israel, McCarthy, Crowley, Nadler, Weiner, Owens, Velazquez, Rangel, Serrano, Engel, Lowey, McNulty, Hinchey, Boehlert, Walsh, Higgins and Slaughter for sponsoring the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act, which ensures all U.S. waters are protected by the Clean Water Act, and called for the rest of New York's congressional delegation to support this important bill.
In order to achieve the goals of the Clean Water Act, NYPIRG recommended federal and state officials do the following:
- Increase EPA funding to put more environmental cops on the beat to identify and punish polluters violating their Clean Water Act permits, and to fully fund the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to help communities upgrade their sewer systems.
- Protect all U.S. waters by withdrawing the Bush administration's 2003 "No Protection" policy that eliminates Clean Water Act protections for many small streams and wetlands that feed and clean great waters, and supporting passage of the Clean Water Authority Restoration Act.
- Strengthen the Clean Water Act by preventing polluters from profiting from pollution, tightening permitted pollution limits, revoking the permits of repeat violators, and ensuring citizens full access to the courts.
"To protect public health and the environment, the Bush administration and state officials must hold polluters accountable for their contamination of America's waterways," concluded NYPIRG's Ms. Breen.
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