Press Releases

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) today joined 47 other House members as an original cosponsor of a House resolution in support of the Clean Water Act. H.Res. 797, authored by Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) and Congressman Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), calls on the Environmental Protection Agency to maintain and strengthen the Clean Water Act against continued attempts from the Trump administration to weaken or dismantle its core tenants.  

“Maine has a long history of environmental stewardship because our environment takes care of us; we depend on it for our economy, health, and our general way of life. Senator Muskie embodied the Maine commitment to a healthy environment and authored the most robust water standards our country had ever seen,” said Pingree. “The Trump administration’s repeated attacks on the Clean Water Act would undermine the very objective Muskie set out to achieve: nationwide clean water. Access to clean water is a fundamental human right, and I’m proud to stand beside my Congressional colleagues in support of the Clean Water Act. We cannot afford to go back.”

The landmark Clean Water Act, enacted by Congress in 1972 over President Nixon’s veto, was authored by Senator Edmund Muskie (D-Maine), who was legendary in Maine and in the United States Senate for his environmental stewardship. Thanks to the strong standards and safeguards established in the bill, waters across the United States were cleaner and healthier than ever before; previously unregulated polluters were held accountable and could no longer dump their waste into America’s waterways.

The resolution was endorsed by Natural Resources Defense Council, League of Conservation Voters, National Wildlife Federation, Environment America, Earthjustice, National Parks Conservation Association, Southern Environmental Law Center, GreenLatinos, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, and Clean Water Action.

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