Editor,
The claims of polluters and their lobbyists that the EPA is out to “regulate puddles” is absurd. These proposed regulations are absolutely necessary to ensure the quality of drinking water; access to which is a universal right. We have a problem of language, where the only protected rivers are those considered “navigable”. What of the streams and tributaries that feed into those rivers, that feed into our drinking water? If the polluters have their way, they will stay unregulated—and continue to threaten the drinking water of 117 million Americans (5 million Bay Staters. The EPA is not “regulat[ing] puddles”, they are regulating the pollution that is dumped into our clean water. All Americans should be behind this, it is not a partisan issue and unfortunately, congress is trying to turn it into one in the name of big business.
Paul Kelly
Fund for the Public Interest
Amherst
