Pollution, Coming to a Waterway Near You
When I was growing up it was my understanding that one of the prides of America was its infrastructure, where one could get clean water, drinkable and fresh, out of any tap across the country. Since Flint Michigan we’ve seen that if such pride was ever well paced, it certainly no longer applies with repeated stories highlighting failing water systems contaminated with lead, PFOS, bacteria and more, in thousands of communities across America. As of last week, the Supreme Court of the United States has made America’s water ways even more vulnerable, and the continued degradation all but inevitable. In Sackett v. EPA, SCOTUS was deciding whether a private couple’s specific wetlands on the property was considered protected wetlands under the Clean Water Act (CWA). All nine justices agreed that the particular land in question owned by the Sacketts was not protected. However, as they are want to do in the modern era, the Republican appointed Justices decided to answer a broader set of questions which had not been raised in the case itself, around the general scope of the EPAs authority under the CWA. These are activist justices, legislating from the bench and reshaping America in their radical image. In a 5-4 majority decision Samuel Alito led the charge in gutting the Clean Water Act, the 50-year-old statute which has helped keep the waters, wetlands, and marshes of the United States unpolluted. This new decision penned Samuel Alito attacks the scope of the CWA’s purview through his claimed inability to decipher the meaning of the word “adjacent” in the context of the Clean Water Act, despite clear precedent and working understanding during 50 years of the statute. An estimated 90 million acres of currently conserved wetlands and marshes will no longer be protected from exploitation and pollution from industry run amok. Human memories are tragically short, as few seem to remember incidents like the Cuyahoga River catching on fire at least a dozen times in the years leading up to the formation of the EPA and passage of the Clean Water Act. We know what unprotected waters and unregulated corporations leave Americans with: poisoned water, poisoned homes, and poisoned land. Horrifyingly, this will likely become a more and more common phenomenon as radical right-wing judges legislate from the bench the enormously unpopular policies they cannot pass through Congress. The American people don't want a degraded environment, they don't want poisonous water or air. An overwhelming 75-95% polled say clean water is important. If we are to make sure that change doesn’t wait until our rivers are catching fire again before our very eyes it will take consistent political and economic organizing to build an economic cudgel which can beat back industry and cow these radical conservative Republicans on the Supreme Court who've shown that their own Creature Comforts and material interests outweigh any legal principal or moral guidance. So, join us each Tuesday in growing solidarity as we fight to make sure that the air we breathe and the water we drink is safe for all future generations. #DSOT #UPM
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