Take Action: Celebrate Earth Month with AVEDA
Be a voice for Clean Water!
Each year, Aveda Corporation selects nonprofit organizations as Earth Month Partners. Last year, Aveda's global spa, store and salon network raised over $2 million in support of clean water worldwide, which was distributed among local Earth Month partners.
This year, the focus of Earth Month is on making clean water available to all-globally. Money raised will be donated to organizations around the world, working to support and preserve clean water. Earth Month events will also raise awareness of clean water issues and encourage Aveda personnel and guests to take action.
Funds raised will foster Clean Water Fund's efforts to promote clean water throughout the United States. This support from thousands of Aveda customers and hundreds of salons will help us fight to protect the integrity of the Clean Water Act, the keystone environmental protect for our lakes, rivers and streams.
Decisions, decisions: The Supreme Court Weakens the Clean Water Act
Two recent Supreme Court cases have placed longstanding Clean Water Act safeguards in doubt. The split 2001 decision in Solid Waste Authority of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (SWANCC) and the 2006 decision in Rapanos v. United States created unworkable confusion over what constitutes a "water of the United States," protected by the Clean Water Act. The result has left many waters unprotected. The swirling controversy is costing us time, money and invaluable water resources.
SWANCC left waters that could be defined as "isolated" without Clean Water Act protections. This is a devastating ruling for wetlands. Midwestern Prairie Pothole wetlands, which are invaluable wildlife habitat, are especially vulnerable. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration EPA misinterpreted the ruling and cut protections even further than the Court's decision required.
The Rapanos case is a highly fractured ruling, which re-defined which waters are covered by the Clean Water Act. Four Supreme Court justices would refuse to protect any water body that was not "relatively permanent, standing or flowing," whereas Justice Kennedy would require proof that the water body has a "significant nexus" to waters that are or could be made navigable. Four other justices supported the Clean Water Act as it has been interpreted broadly for the last thirty years. This split decision has left legal confusion - and more polluted waters - in its wake.
Problem: Clean Water at Risk
Did you know that many of our lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands are in jeopardy of losing important clean water protections?
Big developers and other corporate polluters are using the courts and backdoor bureaucratic maneuvers to undo clean water protections. The Clean Water Act - our most important water law - has helped prevent water pollution and make progress cleaning up many of our precious lakes, rivers and streams.
Weakening the Clean Water Act and placating polluters with lax enforcement is the wrong direction for America's waters. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should make protecting our lakes, river and streams its priority - not looking the other way for polluters.
Solution: Protect All of America's Waters
We must fight back and keep these critical protections. Our elected officials need to hear that Americans support the Clean Water Act as it was written in 1972 - with the intent to protect all of our waters. We must uphold the strongest, most comprehensive protections for our water.
Tell the EPA and Congress that the Clean Water Act and all its protections should be available for all of our waters - lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands-not just a few of them.
Take action now: E-mail the EPA and Congress to protect all of America's Waters!
To find out more about how you can get involved contact Andrea Kiepe Jacob by e-mail or by phone at (612) 623-3666.
When is a lake not a lake? When is a river not a river?
Polluters redefine the Clean Water Act and endanger our lakes, rivers and streams
Letting polluters off the hook in Alabama
Avondale Creek is stream in north Birmingham, Alabama, that feeds into Bayview Lake. On the other side of the lake, Locust Fork flows for 20 miles before it reaches the Black Warrior River.
In June, 2005 - after one of the longest environmental crimes trials in history - a jury found McWane, Inc. and company managers guilty of knowingly discharging oil, lead, zinc and grease into Avondale Creek in violation of the Clean Water Act. The district court sentenced McWane to 60 months probation and a fine of $5 million.
The U.S. Department of Justice said that top McWane staff knowingly violated the Clean Water Act, then tried to cover it up. Health, safety and pollution violations at McWane facilities across the U.S. were serious enough to be profiled in a PBS Frontline documentary, A Dangerous Business.
Later these convictions were overturned on appeal because of a recent Supreme Court case that has weakened the Clean Water Act - the 2006 split decision Rapanos v. United States. Using this ruling, the McWane defendants challenged their conviction, claiming that Avondale Creek was not protected by the Clean Water Act.
Minnesota Lakes Ruled Not Worth Protecting
Boyer Lake is a 310-acre lake in Becker County, Minnesota. According to Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources (DNR), "northern pike, largemouth bass, walleye and panfish are all popular targets of anglers on this lake." The DNR stocks the lake with walleye (including, in 2005, with over 400,000 walleye fry). A public boat ramp and a boat access from the highway let boaters into Boyer Lake. The DNR website touts, "Boyer is a relatively scenic lake in prairie country with several small islands, bays and peninsulas."
Bah Lakes, a 70-acre lake, is located about 75 miles northwest of Minneapolis on the border between Grant and Douglas counties. The lake is about ten feet deep. Canoeing, as well as bird-watching, cross-country skiing, hiking, hunting and snow shoeing are some of the activities enjoyed in, on, and around the lake. There is public access to the lake from County Road 19. Ducks Unlimited is working on a conservation easement to preserve habitat around Bah Lakes.
Despite the use of these waters by boaters, the local office of the Corps of Engineers initially called the lakes "isolated." This would have removed Clean Water Act protection for these two lakes. That meant the Clean Water Act couldn't stop polluters from discharging into, or even destroying, nearly 400 acres of Minnesota's fresh water lakes.
Oil spills don't matter when the creek isn't protected by the Clean Water Act
On August 24, 2000, a pipeline operated by the Chevron Oil Pipeline Company failed, spilling 126,000 gallons of oil into an unnamed, west Texas creek. The creek was dry at the time - almost 60% of US streams are dry for part of the year.
But even dry creeks need Clean Water Act protections. They are part of a larger watershed, and when water flows, they carry pollutants to downstream waters. In this case, the unnamed creek runs into Ennis Creek, which eventually joins the Brazos River eighty-two miles downstream.
These creeks are not dry all the time. According to the Justice Department, when the water is flowing, all these streams and rivers are connected.
Despite thirty years of CWA protections for streams like these, they are now at risk. A federal trial court in Texas ruled that because no water was flowing at the time of the spill, the Clean Water Act did not apply.
One of New Mexico's largest watersheds not protected
The Corps of Engineers has determined that the basin containing the Rio Tularosa, is not protected because it is a "closed" basin. Yet, this massive watershed stretches across six counties and is one of the largest watersheds in south-central New Mexico. It is hard to believe that in arid states where water is precious that ANY streams would be denied protections.
EPA and the Corps of Engineers have issued policy "guidance" that is vague and confusing, and therefore does little to clarify what is protected and what is not protected. The difficulty, delay, and expense that will be required every time there is a question raised whether a stream is a "water of the U.S." is only going to get worse. Without clarity, waste can now be dumped into many streams and many wetlands can now be drained and filled with virtually no Clean Water Act oversight by responsible agencies.
