"This bold legislation put forward by visionaries in Congress returned control of our nation's waterways to the citizens of the United States as part of the public trust. However, today the concept of the public trust, the commons, is being quickly eroded by corporate polluters and their cronies in Congress who are determined to return to the era of using out nation's waterways as open sewers, toxic dumps, and landfills.

They have proposed bills, amendments, and budget riders to gut the Clean Water Act and jeopardize the environmental health of our waterways and the lifeblood of our communities across the country, all without public debate.

This is a crisis not of its own doing, but one engineered by members of Congress who put the interests of the public aside to do the bidding of the corporate polluters who fill their campaign coffers.

Waterkeeper Alliance and our partners will work every day to remind Americans, and the world about the importance of the Clean Water Act and that we have indeed come a long way from 1969, when the Cuyahoga River was burning. But we still have a long way to go to protect all of our waterways.

Congress' 1972 goal was to have eliminated all discharges of pollutants into the nation's navigable waters by 1985. Almost two decades later, in 2002, the EPA mournfully acknowledged that water quality in many parts of the country was in steady decline.

Waterkeeper will keep fighting for the basic right to swimmable, drinkable, and fishable water. We will not stand for any attacks on our communities that undermine the clean water protections that our streams, rivers, lakes and estuaries have been afforded over the past 40 years. We hope you will continue to support us in this important work."

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
President
Waterkeeper Alliance