Holding Elected Officials Accountable in the United States: 25 Years of Waterkeeper Alliance
By: Marc Yaggi
At Waterkeeper Alliance, we recently marked a significant milestone, celebrating our 25th anniversary and a quarter-century of protecting the fundamental right to clean water. During that time, we’ve witnessed remarkable progress in environmental protection, but also faced persistent challenges and setbacks. Through it all, one thing has remained constant: our steadfast commitment to holding those in power accountable, regardless of their political affiliation.
Water transcends borders, social classes, and political divides—it is the foundation of life and we all need it to support public health and strong economies. Unfortunately, policy decisions regularly threaten this fundamental resource, reinforcing the need for non-partisan advocacy and holding all decision-makers accountable. For example, in the United States – from the Clinton administration to the Trump administration – Waterkeeper Alliance has taken on presidents, federal and state government agencies, and corporations, fighting for stronger environmental safeguards and demanding that polluters pay for their damage. Retelling all the advocacy and legal actions taken over 25 years and five presidential administrations would require a treatise. Below highlights a few actions during each administration.
The Clinton Years: Navigating the Murky Waters of Politics
In the 1990s, under President Bill Clinton and while Waterkeeper Alliance was in its infancy, we began pressuring the U.S. Navy, through advocacy followed by legal action, to stop its highly polluting bombing practice over the Caribbean island of Vieques. We fought alongside the community, demanding an end to the environmental destruction that threatened their health and livelihoods. This struggle, though long and arduous, ultimately led to the Navy’s withdrawal and the beginning of a long road to recovery for the island.
We also took a leadership role in the movement to return sustainability to America’s farmlands by fighting in court against industrial meat production. We saw firsthand how factory farms were polluting our rivers and streams, harming communities, and jeopardizing public health. We took on powerful corporations, demanding accountability and pushing for a more sustainable and just food system.
The Bush Era: Battling Rollbacks and Industry Influence
The George W. Bush administration brought a wave of environmental rollbacks, favoring industry interests over environmental protection. Working with partners, we successfully sued President Bush’s EPA over their so-called Clean Air Mercury Rule, written largely by the energy industry and lacking any teeth to reduce obscenely toxic mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. Our advocacy and legal challenge through the course of subsequent administrations led to stronger standards, safeguarding the health of countless families and children.
We also won a judicial challenge to an EPA regulation that categorically exempted certain discharges of pesticides to waters of the United States from the Clean Water Act’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit requirement. Also during this term, we worked with Waterkeepers in Louisiana on a successful advocacy and communications effort to protect hundreds of thousands of acres of coastal wetland cypress forests. In 2008, Wal-Mart announced it would stop buying Cypress mulch from Louisiana.
We further fought back against attempts to weaken the Clean Water Act, challenged mountaintop removal coal mining practices that devastated Appalachian communities, and exposed the devastating impacts of factory farm pollution on our rivers and streams.
The Obama Years: Progress Mixed With Challenges
The Obama years saw a renewed focus on environmental protection, with initiatives like the Clean Power Plan aimed at reducing carbon emissions from power plants. At the same time, we legally challenged the federal rules for coal ash disposal finalized by President Obama’s EPA. If we had not won, coal ash companies would be allowed to continue to store coal ash in unlined and inadequately lined ash pits, many of which are already leaking dangerous pollution into rivers and streams.
We further held President Obama accountable for failing to protect critical waterways under the Clean Water Act. During these years, we also supported our Waterkeeper groups during the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, which exposed the risks of offshore drilling and the need for stronger safety regulations. We worked tirelessly to hold BP accountable for the spill’s devastating consequences and advocate for a more sustainable energy future.
President Trump’s First Term: Rolling Back Environmental Protections
The first Trump administration launched an unprecedented attack on more than 100 environmental regulations, rolling back clean water protections, weakening pollution standards, and silencing scientific voices. During this term, we successfully settled a lawsuit against President Trump’s EPA for failing to revise regulatory standards on certain contaminants and develop new standards for emerging contaminants as required by the Safe Drinking Water Act.
We also successfully settled a case against EPA for its decision not to update national standards restricting water pollution from slaughterhouses. EPA’s decision that we challenged in our lawsuit allowed thousands of meat and poultry processing plants to continue using outdated pollution-control technology, leading to the contamination of waterways across the country.
Through the filing of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, we also secured public records that had been unlawfully withheld related to the Agency’s unlawful attempt to excuse industrial animal agriculture operations from statutory reporting requirements for hazardous air emissions under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act.
The Biden Administration: Navigating Complexities and Opportunities
While the Biden administration brought a renewed focus on climate action, there were many challenges. For example, we filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), challenging its resumption of oil and gas extraction lease sales on public lands in the Western U.S. We also worked with our network of Waterkeeper groups to collect data on PFAS contamination in waterways nationwide, using the data to advocate for EPA to issue drinking water regulations for PFAS.
Further under the Biden administration, we worked with partners to file a lawsuit against EPA for failing to set limits on harmful chemicals like cyanide, benzene, mercury, and chlorides in the billions of gallons of wastewater pouring out of U.S. oil refineries, chemical plants, and factories that manufacture fertilizer, plastics, pesticides, and nonferrous metals. Additionally, with partners, we filed suit against the Army Corps of Engineers for issuing a dredge and fill permit that threatens the sustainability and health of Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin wetlands and the communities who live and earn a living there. We further remained vigilant in holding the administration accountable for its commitments and ensuring that environmental protection was not compromised.
The Future of Clean Water: A Call to Continued Action
As we look ahead, the fight for clean water continues. Climate change, emerging contaminants, and ongoing threats to our waterways demand our unwavering attention. We must continue to hold those in power accountable, regardless of their political affiliation, and advocate for policies that protect our environment and our communities.
Waterkeeper Alliance remains committed to this fight. We will continue to support our global network of Waterkeeper groups and challenge decisions that jeopardize our right to clean water. We believe that by working together, we can build a future where clean water is a reality for all.
Join us in this fight. Support Waterkeeper Alliance and your local Waterkeeper, by raising your voice for clean water and holding all elected officials accountable. Together, we can make a difference.
