Waterkeeper Alliance Sounds Alarm About Attacks on Landmark Clean Water Safeguards
By: Waterkeeper Alliance
Waterkeeper Alliance, which unites a movement of 300+ locally based Waterkeeper groups, including more than 150 nationwide, is sounding the alarm about U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin’s newly announced plans to dramatically weaken landmark clean water protections, a move that threatens to put water quality at risk across the United States.
These actions include revising wastewater regulations for coal-burning power plants, rolling back coal ash management regulations, reconsidering the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), limiting federal oversight of certain wetlands and smaller water bodies, and ordering the closure of EPA offices responsible for addressing the disproportionate pollution in low-income and rural communities and communities of color.
The planned weakening of Clean Water Act regulations for steam electric power plants, updated in 2024 following a successful legal challenge by Waterkeeper Alliance, risks allowing more harmful pollutants into rivers and lakes. This could harm water quality for millions, particularly in rural, low-income, and communities of color, who are disproportionately impacted by pollution.
The planned rollback of coal ash disposal regulations, which were also improved in 2024 in response to another of our legal victories, would also be a significant step backward. Coal ash, which contains toxic heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic, poses a serious risk of groundwater and surface water contamination when not properly managed. Similarly, EPA’s reconsideration of MATS also raises serious public health concerns. Weakening these rules opens the door to water contamination that could affect drinking water and the local environment, especially in disproportionately impacted areas, for millions of Americans.
Collectively, these actions alone threaten to reverse more than a decade of progress to reduce highly toxic pollutants from the environment. When the first national standards requiring coal- and oil-fired power plants to reduce mercury and other toxic air pollution were finalized in 2011, EPA itself justified this action by demonstrating that the environmental and public health benefits of the regulation far outweighed the costs to industry. For example, its 2011 Regulatory Impact Analysis for the MATS rule estimated that 11,000 premature deaths were avoided per year and 130,000 cases of childhood asthma were prevented annually, among other health improvements. The costs to the industry were estimated to be between $9.6 billion and $9.8 billion annually, while the benefits were valued at between $37 billion and $90 billion annually.
Throughout, Waterkeeper Alliance has fought for stronger mercury protections since 2008, suing EPA over the Clean Air Mercury Rule. We supported the Obama administration’s 2011 MATS rule, which cut mercury emissions by 91%, and opposed the Trump administration’s rollback in 2018. In 2024, we backed the Biden administration’s strengthened MATS rule, which reduced toxic metal emissions by 67% and mercury by 70%.
Administrator Zeldin also announced EPA’s plans to further limit the scope of waterbodies protected under the Clean Water Act. This reinterpretation could exclude many streams, wetlands, and vital waterways from federal protection, leaving them vulnerable to pollution. Smaller rivers and wetlands, crucial for water filtration, flood control, and wildlife habitats, could lack oversight, threatening clean drinking water and agricultural needs for local communities.
“From coal ash to wetlands protections, we are deeply concerned about the EPA Administrator’s sweeping plans to gut clean water protections, which directly undermines the agency’s fundamental mission to protect human health and the environment,” said Jacqueline Esposito, Advocacy Director for Waterkeeper Alliance. “It’s particularly disappointing that someone from a coastal community that depends on federal support for long-term viability would erode the federal government’s responsibility for water stewardship. We urge Administrator Zeldin to do his duty by putting the well-being of the American people first and reversing this clear corporate giveaway. We all deserve better.”
From challenging rollbacks like the 2015 “Clean Water Rule” to filing lawsuits against the 2019 “Waters of the United States” definition, Waterkeeper Alliance has remained committed to ensuring that federal safeguards for clean water are upheld. In 2022, we stood with other organizations in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the Act, and in 2023, the Sackett v. EPA decision highlighted the ongoing threats to these protections. Now, with Administrator Zeldin’s latest actions, including weakening safeguards for wastewater regulations, coal ash, and smaller water bodies, Waterkeeper Alliance is more determined than ever to fight these rollbacks and protect clean water for all communities.
