Descriptions of Key Clean Water Votes in the 112th Congress

1. H.R. 2354 – Energy and Water Appropriations Bill for FY 2012 – NO is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
Section 109 of this Energy and Water Appropriations bill would block EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers from finalizing new guidance to protect waters from pollution and destruction. It would also prevent the agencies from proposing a rule not only in FY 2012, but indefinitely. This bill passed 219-196.

2. Moran Amendment to H.R. 2354 – YES is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This amendment would strike the Section 109 clean water rider from H.R. 2354, allowing the Agencies to complete their clean water guidance and undertake a formal rulemaking. This amendment failed 170-250.

3. H.R. 2018, Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act – NO is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This dirty water bill would essentially take the “federal” out of the federal Clean Water Act by overturning almost 40 years of legislation by preventing EPA from protecting public health and the environment. It would severely limit the EPA’s authority to establish water quality standards for pollutants. This bill passed 239-184.

4. Blumenauer – Markey – DeFazio Amendment to H.R. 2018 – YES is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This amendment would exempt waters from H.R. 2018 that provide flood protections for communities, are a valuable fish and wildlife habitat that provides economic benefit, or are coastal recreational waters. It would preserve EPA’s authority to protect communities that rely on water for economic benefits, along with wetlands and other waters that provide vital flood protection. This amendment failed 183-237.

5. Connolly Amendment to H.R. 2018 – YES is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This amendment would exempt watersheds from H.R. 2018 that receive federal funding for watershed restoration and related activities (such as the Chesapeake Bay). By limiting jurisdiction of this bill to waters that do not receive federal funding for restoration work, critical efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay, Long Island Sound, the Great Lakes and other great waters across the county would be able to continue. The amendment failed 181-240.

6. H.R. 872, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act - NO is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This bill would exempt pesticide users who spray over water from the Clean Water Act’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Program (NPDES). It seeks to undo a 2009 federal appeals court ruling that rightfully determined that EPA’s pesticide permitting under FIFRA did not adequately protect water from harmful pesticide discharges. This bill passed 292-130.

7. Mountaintop Removal Mining H.R. 1 Rider – NO is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This amendment would block EPA policies established to ensure that mountaintop removal coal mining permits in Appalachia do not pollute streams and destroy aquatic life with mining waste. EPA has used these policies to halt the most destructive mountaintop removal projects that would cause irreparable harm to streams and other waters. This amendment passed 235-185.

8. The Chesapeake Bay H.R. 1 Rider – NO is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This amendment would block efforts to continue the long delayed clean-up of the Chesapeake Bay. Specifically it would prohibit federal funding to establish a “pollution diet” that would limit the amount of pollution that ends up in the Bay. This amendment passed 230-195.

9. Florida’s Water Quality H.R. 1 Rider – NO is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This amendment would block the EPA from implementing new water quality standards for Florida’s lakes, rivers, and streams, rules which were finalized in November 2010. It was also halt public education to protect the state’s waters from excess nitrogen and phosphorous pollution. This amendment passed 237-189.

10. Protecting Streams from Coal Mining H.R. 1 Rider – NO is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This amendment would prevent the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation and Enforcement from proposing rules to protect streams from the destructive impacts of surface coal mining. New rules are needed to replace a rule eliminated by the Bush Administration. This amendment passed 239-186.

11. Clean Water Safeguards H.R. 1 Rider – No is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This amendment would prevent EPA from continuing to use its authority under the Clean Water Act to prohibit or restrict permits that would have an “unacceptable adverse effect” on water and aquatic life. The Agency has reserved this authority to veto only 13 of the most egregious projects in the Act’s 39-year history. This amendment passed 240-182.

12. Coal Ash H.R. 1 Rider - No is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This amendment would prohibit EPA from finalizing rules to protect human health and the environment from toxic coal ash. The EPA began developing these rules following the horrific failure of a TVA coal ash pond in Kingston, TN in December 2008. This amendment passed 239-183.

13. Land and Water Conservation Fund H.R. 1 - No is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This amendment would slash an additional 90% from the budget of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is funded by oil royalties and helps expand protected areas in our nation’s most cherished places, such as the Grand Canyon. This amendment failed 213-216.

14. Continuing Resolution: H.R. 1 Final Passage - No is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This appropriations bill drastically cuts funds from critical environmental programs and contains policy riders that would block government agencies from protecting public health and the environment from pollution. The bill passed 235-189.

15. H.R. 2273, Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act- No is the Pro-Clean Water Vote
This bill would prevent EPA from finalizing rules to protect public health and the environment from toxic coal ash.  It allows states to continue operating leaking and dangerous coal ash dumps without requiring basic safeguards.  The bill passed 267-144.