Protecting Our Clean Water
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Biden administration announcement leaves crucial waters in jeopardy
The EPA announced it plans to repeal and replace a harmful, destructive rule by the prior administration that removed federal pollution protections under the Clean Water Act and invited destruction of streams, wetlands, and lakes. The action by the E...
Trump Clean Water Act rollback strips protections from many large public lakes
Popular lakes across the nation — even some drinking water reservoirs like South Carolina’s Lake Keowee — were stripped of protections against pollution by the Trump administration's gutting of the Clean Water Act that has yet to be reversed. For ref...
North Carolina DEQ nixes deal to allow more cyanide into Badin Lake
Public outcry over a transparent plan to evade pollution limits convinced the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to reverse course on the proposed deal. Alcoa had a problem: Discharges from its long-shuttered aluminum smelting plant...
Conservation groups ask Tennessee to revoke gravel mine permit on the Duck River
On behalf of a number of conservation groups, SELC sent a letter asking the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to revoke a Clean Water Act permit for an illegal rock quarry on the banks of the Duck River. Volunteer Sand and Gravel...
Final hearing on NEPA changes headed to court this month
SELC is preparing for a federal showdown on April 21 to determine the fate of the Trump administration’s gutting of the National Environmental Policy Act. It is expected to be the final hearing on a case that has spanned two presidential administrat...
How we’re working to ensure a safer Cape Fear River basin for N.C. communities
An agreement by state regulators with the City of Greensboro allows increased discharges of cancer-causing 1,4-dioxane into the drinking water source for nearly one million people in violation of the Clean Water Act and state water quality laws. Acc...
Active Energy Sued for Illegal Pollution of North Carolina’s Lumber River from Toxic Site
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—On behalf of Winyah Rivers Alliance, the Southern Environmental Law Center today sued to stop Active Energy Renewable Power and Lumberton Energy Holdings— subsidiaries of the U.K. company, Active Energy Group—from illegally...
SELC secures $1 million settlement in plastic-pellet spill
CHARLESTON, SC — Frontier Logistics has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged the company spilled plastic pellets into the Charleston Harbor from its former facility at Union Pier in downtown Charleston. The settlement, pending...
SELC Hopes for Change at EPA under Regan’s Leadership Based on Work in North Carolina
WASHINGTON, DC— The Southern Environmental Law Center released the following statement by Derb Carter, director of the North Carolina offices of the Southern Environmental Law Center, in advance of the February 3 confirmation hearing regarding the...
Filed: Challenge to Trump administration rule allowing more toxic wastewater from coal plants
Representing groups from communities near and downstream of coal plants in the Carolinas, the Southern Environmental Law Center today challenged the Trump administration’s rewrite of a rule—known as the Effluent Limitation Guidelines, or ELG, Rule fo...
Groups Challenge Trump Administration Rule Allowing More Toxic Wastewater from Coal Plants
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Representing groups from communities near and downstream of coal plants in the Carolinas, the Southern Environmental Law Center today challenged the Trump administration’s rewrite of a rule—known as the Effluent Limitation...
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Congressman Donald McEachin, and Advocates host Townhall marking 48th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- To highlight the 48th anniversary of the Clean Water Act becoming law, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Congressman Donald McEachin (D-VA), state and tribal officials, and other clean water advocates hosted a virtual...
Clean water rollbacks enable destruction of 400 acres of wetlands near Okefenokee
One impact of the Trump administration’s cutting of protections under the Clean Water Act is a massive mine’s plans to destroy nearly 400 acres of wetlands at the doorstep of the Okefenokee Swamp without a federal permit. “[Similar] decisions are be...
SELC flags Endangered Species Act violation in EPA rule harming clean water
Today, the Southern Environmental Law Center notified the Environmental Protection Agency that it violated the Endangered Species Act when it cut back on the rights of states and local communities under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. SELC sent t...
Lawsuit challenges EPA’s attack on the ability of states and communities to protect clean water
SELC just challenged in federal court a Trump administration rollback of clean water protections that sharply curtails the ability of states and local residents to protect their drinking water, rivers, streams, wetlands, aquatic life, and other local...
Conservation Groups Challenge Trump Administration’s Attack on the Power of States and Local Residents to Protect Clean Water
CHARLESTON, S.C.—Conservation groups today challenged in federal court a Trump administration rollback of clean water protections that sharply curtails the ability of states and local residents to protect their drinking water, rivers, streams,...
Conservation Groups Reach Agreement for 99 Percent Reduction of Chemours’ GenX
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—On behalf of Cape Fear River Watch, the Southern Environmental Law Center today reached agreement on the details of next steps under a consent order with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality and Chemours that requires the...
We’re challenging EPA’s gutting of clean water protections in federal court
UPDATE (7/21/20) — A coalition of outdoor and sporting groups recently supported our lawsuit, filing an amicus brief decrying this rollback of clean water protections. Read more about the filing representing Trout Unlimited, the Theodore Roosevelt Co...
Conservation Groups Challenge EPA’s Gutting of Clean Water Protections in Federal Court
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Conservation groups today challenged in federal court the administration’s effort to gut clean water protections from wetlands and streams that feed drinking-water sources for 200 million Americans and 32 million people in the...
Amid health crisis, Trump administration guts clean water protections
As communities across the country respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today published a rule in the Federal Register that guts decades-old safeguards protecting America’s wat...
Chemours’ plan doesn’t comply with state law
Chemours’ cleanup plan does not even attempt to comply with state law or the consent order it agreed to, and would leave highly contaminated groundwater in the ground to pollute the Cape Fear River for decades to come, SELC and Cape Fear River Watch...
SELC op-ed: Bipartisan clean water protections gutted
In the wake of the new definitions from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that drastically reduce which waterways receive federal protections, Senior Attorney Blan Holman, who leads SELC’s Clean Water Defense Initiative, breaks down just how m...
EPA announces move to strip Clean Water Act protections
Despite opposition from hundreds of thousands of Americans, today the Trump administration finalized a rule to gut long-established clean water protections. This unprecedented move, which will remove Clean Water Act protections that have been in pla...
Groups announce investigation into pellet pollution
CHARLESTON, SC — Environmental groups have sent a notice of intent to sue Frontier Logistics for ongoing plastic pollution from its packaging facility at Union Pier Terminal. The 60-day notice submitted today by the Southern Environmental Law...
We just sued to protect clean water
SELC filed a federal lawsuit today to stop the the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from rolling back some of the country’s most important environmental protections as it continues its efforts to gut the Clean Water Act. “This administration mig...
Conservation Groups Challenge Repeal of Clean Water Act Protections in Federal Court
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Conservation groups today challenged in court the administration’s effort to strip away crucial clean water protections from rivers, lakes, streams and other waters that feed drinking-water sources for 200 million Americans and 32...
Multi-front attack on clean water takes aim at state authority
UPDATE: EPA released its new rule, limiting state's and tribe's authority to protect waterways, on June 1, 2020. SELC will be reviewing the rule. In another affront to clean water protections, the Trump administration is proposing to weaken the key...
Trump administration continues efforts to gut Clean Water Act protections
The Trump administration today completed its repeal of the 2015 Clean Water Rule, part of its multi-phase effort to gut Clean Water Act protections across the nation. This move undermines the definition of which waters are protected by the Clean Wate...
New EPA rule limits states’ ability to protect against pollution
An administration’s proposal published today in the Federal Register would greatly limit the authority of states to insist on full information about pollution impacts from federally licensed projects like pipelines and dams or impose conditions to en...
Lower Cape Fear River no longer to be classified as ‘swamp waters’
Fifteen miles of North Carolina’s lower Cape Fear River will no longer be classified as “swamp waters,” thanks to a successful petition by environmental groups that SELC represented. This win will hopefully lead to stricter pollution regulations. At...
Broad coalition goes on record against gutting of Clean Water Act
SELC continued its battle against a proposal by the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency to strip Clean Water Act protection from a significant percentage of streams and wetlands in the U.S., submitting comments April 15 on behalf o...
Groups Oppose the EPA’s Proposal to Gut the Clean Water Act
WASHINGTON, DC – Today the Southern Environmental Law Center filed comments on behalf of 80 conservation and community organizations against the EPA’s proposal to drastically reduce what waters are protected under the Clean Water Act, jeopardizing...
EPA plan would allow more toxics in the air and water
There are just two weeks left to support one of the nation’s most successful air-pollution protections from a scheduled gutting under a Trump administration plan to let coal-burning plants potentially release more toxics into the sky. The Environmen...
Clean Water Act proposal drastically cuts protections against pollution
SELC continues to battle a Trump administration proposal that would radically reduce the nation’s number of streams and wetlands protected by the Clean Water Act. This proposal is a gift to polluting industries that would cause serious problems for t...
New Video Outlines What’s at Stake in Federal Proposal to Gut Clean Water Act
Charlottesville, VA – Earlier today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) opened the public comment period for citizens to provide feedback on a proposal to gut the Clean Water Act by redefining what waters are protected. This proposal...
Protecting our clean water
A few weeks ago the Environmental Protection Agency announced an unprecedented, risky proposal to gut clean water protections that have been in place for generations. While the EPA is supposed to be protecting our water, this proposal does the oppos...
EPA PFAS Plan is an Empty Gesture
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—The Southern Environmental Law Center today issued the following statement regarding EPA’s PFAS Management Plan by Geoff Gisler, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center which represents Cape Fear River Watch in...
Groups Petition N.C. to Remove “Swamp Waters” Classification from Lower Cape Fear River
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Waterkeeper Alliance and Cape Fear River Watch, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, petitioned today to remove North Carolina’s “swamp waters” classification from 15 miles of the Lower Cape Fear River flowing...
EPA analysis: Proposal cutting clean water protections benefits heavy industry, not farmers
Buried deep in the Environmental Protection Agency’s economic analysis of the agency’s proposal to gut clean water protections lies a finding that debunks the administration’s sales pitch on its new proposal. As reported by the Associated Press, alth...
Administration announces plan to gut clean water protections
Today the Environmental Protection Agency released a new proposal that, if approved, would remove clean water protections that have been in place for generations. The breadth of this reversal makes it one of the most dangerous proposals for people’s...
Administration’s Attack on Clean Water Act is a Giveaway to Polluters
WASHINGTON – The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) released the following statement in reaction to the administration’s proposal that guts the Clean Water Act, stripping longstanding protections for streams, wetlands, and smaller waterways...
Southern Currents: Roanoke River
Photographer Carl Galie first fell for the Roanoke River 23 years ago when writing a book about the 410-mile river basin.
Southern Currents: The Chattooga River
SELC and our partners are committed to protecting clean water across the South. Right now, D.C. politicians are looking to undo safeguards that prevent upstream pollution of our streams, rivers, and lakes. But we know that, in the South, water is a w...
Cape Fear River is not a swamp, EPA confirms
In recent years, North Carolina’s Cape Fear River has suffered from increased pollution generated by various industries in the watershed, particularly industrial hog operations. One notable impact of all this pollution has been on the levels of disso...
Federal judge strikes down administration’s Clean Water Act attack
A federal judge in South Carolina today struck down the administration’s effort to strip away crucial clean water protections from rivers, lakes, streams, and other waters that feed drinking-water sources for nearly 20 million people in the South and...
SELC appeals harmful clean water injunction
On behalf of National Wildlife Federation and One Hundred Miles, SELC appealed the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to preliminarily enjoin the Clean Water Rule in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Caroli...
Administration signals unprecedented attack on America’s clean water protections
Today, the Trump administration announced it submitted a proposal for inter-agency review that would reportedly gut the Clean Water Act, stripping longstanding protections for streams, wetlands, and smaller waterways that feed drinking water sources...
Trump Administration Signals Unprecedented Attack on America’s Clean Water Protections
WASHINGTON – The Southern Environmental Law Center released the following statement in response to the announcement that the Trump administration had submitted a proposal for inter-agency review that would reportedly gut the Clean Water Act,...
Appeals Court Again Sides with Citizens
RICHMOND, VA — The United States Court of Appeals has rejected Kinder Morgan’s request to reconsider its April ruling in which the Court held that local citizen groups can enforce the Clean Water Act to stop continuing pollution of the Savannah...
Federal Judge Denies Administration’s Request to Move Challenge of Clean Water Attack to Texas Court
CHARLESTON, S.C. – A federal judge in South Carolina today denied the Environmental Protection Agency’s request to move to Texas a challenge of the administration’s effort to strip away critical safeguards of the Clean Water Act, one of the nation’s...
Holleman to Senators: Federal protections are key to clean water
Senior Attorney Frank Holleman testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Wednesday about the essential role of citizen enforcement for clean water. In the hearing, Senators were considering a request from the Environm...
Appeals Court Sides with Citizens in Petroleum Pipeline Case
RICHMOND, VA — The United States Court of Appeals has ruled that local citizen groups can enforce the Clean Water Act to stop continuing pollution of the Savannah River watershed in Anderson County, SC, from a gasoline pipeline spill by Kinder...
Conservation Groups Challenge Attack on Clean Water in Federal Court
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Conservation groups today challenged in court the administration’s effort to strip away crucial clean water protections from rivers, lakes, streams and other waters that feed drinking-water sources for nearly 20 million people in...
Conservation Groups File Challenge to National Forest Service’s Hasty Decision
Richmond, VA— Today, the Southern Environmental Law Center and The Sierra Club on behalf of a coalition of conservation groups filed suit in federal court against the National Forest Service over a grant recently issued to developers of the fracked...
Supreme Court ruling sets the stage for Clean Water Act showdown
One of the most intense environmental threats expected in 2018 will be the Trump administration's campaign to attack the Clean Water Act, arguably the country's most successful environmental protection for nearly 50 years. The administration's...
SELC: Eliminating Clean Water Protections Threatens Southern Waters
Washington, D.C. – The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) released the following statement after filing comments on the EPA’s proposed suspension of the Clean Water Rule, which safeguards streams, wetlands, and other waters that feed...
SELC: Trump Attack on Nation’s Clean Water Protections Illegal, Dangerous
Washington, D.C. – The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), along with 63 organizations, today filed formal objections to the Trump administration’s proposed repeal of the Clean Water Rule, which safeguards streams, wetlands, and other waters...
Trump Administration’s Proposed Repeal of Clean Water Rule Poses Significant Threat to Water Quality
Washington, D.C. - The Southern Environmental Law Center released the following statement regarding today’s announcement of the Trump administration’s proposal to repeal the Clean Water Rule as a first step in dismantling water quality protections...
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