Clean Water Justice Act, sponsored by Senator Malcolm Augustine and Delegate Sara Love,
allows Marylanders harmed by water pollution to enforce state law.
SB653 / HB1101
Why we need the bill
The Clean Water Justice Act allows communities harmed by illegal water pollution to enforce the law. This access to the courts to enforce the law and protect communities from pollution was at the heart of the federal Clean Water Act.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court greatly cut back this right in the recent decision of Sackett vs. EPA, where they cut the applicability of the federal Clean Water Act from many streams and wetlands across the country.
Fortunately, Maryland still protects these waterways, but the state has no right for communities to enforce the law like under the CWA, now curtailed due to the U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Virtually all of the noteworthy environmental enforcement actions have been brought by community groups, with the state often then subsequently filing an enforcement action, allowing the community groups to work alongside the state to enforce the law.
This partnership is something that has brought crucial capacity to the state to enforce the law and utilizes the community members as the eyes and ears on the water. These partnerships have been touted by both MDE and the Attorney General’s office as a tremendous success and have improved environmental accountability.
But, the Supreme Court’s decision will cut off much of this potential unless we fix it with this bill.
“We are not powerless to accomplish this change, but we are powerless as a people if we wait for someone else to do it for us. The power of the people is in the courts – and through them we can require polluters to obey the law.”- Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine, principal architect of the Clean Water Act
What the bill does
- Restores the right for impacted community members to enforce laws to protect inland wetlands and intermittent and ephemeral streams which was lost with the Sackett v EPA decision.
- Gives Marylanders the same degree of access to state courts as they have in federal court.
- Repairs the threat to Maryland’s critical water resources caused by the U.S. Supreme Court.
SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS
Potomac Riverkeeper Network * Chesapeake Legal Alliance * Waterkeepers Chesapeake * ShoreRivers * Arundel Rivers Federation * Blue Water Baltimore * Maryland LCV * Chesapeake Bay Foundation * Potomac Conservancy * Clean Water Action * Maryland Sierra Club * Gunpowder Riverkeeper * Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper * Anacostia Riverkeeper * Assateague Coastkeeper * Patuxent Riverkeeper * Severn Riverkeeper * Interfaith Partnership for the Chesapeake * Audubon Mid-Atlantic * Baltimore Jewish Council * Environment Maryland * Maryland Pesticide Education Network * Alice Ferguson Foundation * Beaverdam Creek Watershed Watch Group * Rock Creek Conservancy * Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility * Center for Progressive Reform * Environmental Integrity Project * The 6th Branch * Nature Forward * Earth Force * Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland * Sustainable Hyattsville *
Climate XChange * CASA * Severn River Federation * League of Women Voters * Trash Free Maryland * MD Conservation Council * Maryland Legislative Coalition Climate Justice Wing * Coalition to Prevent Stream Destruction * Cedar Lane Environmental Justice Ministry * IndivisibleHoCoMD Environmental Action Team * St. Mary’s Watershed Society * National Aquarium * Quaker Voice of Maryland * Maryland Catholics for Our Common Home * Center for Water Security and Cooperation * Vernal Pool Partners * Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland * League of Women Voters of Maryland * The Nature Conservancy, Maryland/DC * Rebuild Maryland Coalition * Friends of Quincy Run Watershed * Earth Force * Warm Springs Watershed Association * Ward 8 Woods Conservancy (DC) * Safe Healthy Playing Fields Inc. * Queen Anne’s Conservation Association * and counting…
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