In 2002 the Bush administration created a loophole to the Clean Water Act that allows mining companies to dump untreated mining wastes in America's lakes and streams.
From mountaintop removal coal mines in Appalachia to gold mines in Alaska, untreated waste is destroying our waterways with tons of dumped material and threatening our communities with heavy metals and other toxins.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to close the waste loophole in the Clean Water Act, but in order to ensure this happens by the end of the Obama administration's current term, the process needs to begin immediately.
Before the EPA can initiate the regulatory rulemaking process, however, it needs the go-ahead from the White House.
What to do
Send a message urging President Obama to immediately direct the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to reinstate the longstanding prohibition on dumping mining waste into streams and lakes. Act now.
(Photo by Rob Perks, courtesy of Southwings)