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Clean Water Program Reports
Executive SummaryAmericans deserve clean water. But Sen. John McCain has too often taken the side of polluters in opposing stronger protections for our water. Sen. McCain: · Voted against the public’s right to know[1] about the 224 million pounds of toxic pollution dumped annually into our waterways.[2] · Voted to exempt the oil and gas industry from Safe Drinking Water Act regulations.[3] · Voted against stronger clean water rules for hardrock mining operations,[4] which have already polluted 40 percent of all watersheds in the West.[5] · Voted to push back tightening the standard for arsenic in drinking water,[6] which would have exposed as many as 34 million Americans to increased risk of cancer.[7] · Voted against consumers’ right to know about contaminants in their drinking water.[8] · Opposed making polluters pay for the cleanup of Superfund toxic waste sites—leaving taxpayers to pick up the tab.[9] [1] S. Amdt. 1535, Vote #306, 7/13/95. [2] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, TRI Explorer: 2006 National Fact Sheet: United States, downloaded from www.epa.gov/cgi-bin/broker?view=STCO&trilib=TRIQ1&state=All+states&SFS=YES&year=2006&_service=oiaa&_program=xp_tri.sasmacr.tristart.macro, 7 October 2008. [3] YES vote on S. Amdt. 2986, Vote #43, 7 March 2002. [4] NO vote on whether S. Amdt. 3980 is germane, Vote #224, 20 July 2000. [5] Earthjustice, Hardrock Mining Reform Is Long Overdue, downloaded from http://www.earthjustice.org/our_work/policy/2007/page.jsp?itemID=30984990, 14 October 2008. [6] YES vote to table S. Amdt. 4308, Vote #270, 12 October 2000. [7] Natural Resources Defense Council, Issues: Water: Arsenic in Drinking Water, downloaded from www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/qarsenic.asp, 10 October 2008. [8] YES vote to table S. Amdt. 3078, Vote #587, 29 November 1995. [9] S. Amdt. 408, Vote #97, 3/25/03. |
