Rep. Scholten Publishes Article on Federal Water Protections in Harvard Law School Journal of Legislation

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Representative Hillary Scholten (D-MI-03) published an article in the Harvard Law School Journal of Legislation on the necessity of strong, bipartisan federal protections for U.S. water resources. The piece, "The Retreat of Cooperative Federalism: Water Rights in a Fragmented Regulatory Era," argues that Congress must work together with states to maintain baseline environmental protections following ​​decades of U.S. Supreme Court action to erode the Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972, including the Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision.

"Protecting and preserving our nation's waters has always been a top priority of mine. In Michigan, it's also personal, from the drinking water we give our kids, to the rivers and streams we fish in the beautiful Michigan outdoors. We know that healthy and safe water is the greatest legacy we can leave the next generation. For me, that means crafting strong water protection laws that have previously been eroded by Congressional Republicans and activist judges," Rep. Scholten said upon publication. "I'm laying the groundwork to draft clear laws that are not overly reliant on the whims of the Executive or the regulatory process. We need an understandable and easy-to-enforce law that allows development to proceed on time and still protects our waterways. We can do both, and we must."

In her article, Rep. Scholten highlights the dramatic turnaround of the nation's water health after Congress passed the CWA. Before the law was passed 50 years ago, Ohio's Cuyahoga River caught fire, Lake Erie was declared dead, and sewage and industrial waste flowed freely into waterways. When the CWA established strong national standards, pollution dropped sharply, rivers became home to wildlife again, and millions of families could rely on cleaner, safer drinking water. The law has funded more than 35,000 wastewater projects and now prevents an estimated 700 billion pounds of pollutants from entering U.S. waters each year. We must ensure our regulatory framework keeps pace with development. Our water laws cannot serve as a political football.

"To restore this critical federal-state partnership, Congress must, on a bipartisan basis, expedite our permitting processes while restoring the federal floor to protect our waters. We can do both: expand federal protections and simultaneously ensure that businesses have clear, fair rules in place to invest in communities. By reinforcing this balance, we uphold the principle of cooperative federalism at the heart of the CWA, providing strong national standards while preserving state flexibility to meet local needs," Rep. Scholten continued.

Rep. Scholten is the Vice Ranking Member of the Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee within the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The full article can be found here.

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