Clean Water Protection Act
The Clean Water Protection Act (H.R. 1310) was a bill introduced in the 111th United States Congress via the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. It proposed to redefine "fill material" to not include mining "waste" under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.
It was introduced by Frank Pallone and Chris Shays in the 110th Congress, and almost identical bills had been introduced in previous years. As of July 2009, H.R.1310 had 154 co-sponsors.[1] Environmental groups such as Appalachian Voices, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and Sierra Club supported the legislation because of their stance against mountaintop removal mining. It would also have affected situations similar to the Kensington Mine operation near Juneau, Alaska where a mine was permitted to discharge mining waste into a small lake as "fill."[2]
References
- U.S. Library of Congress. "H.R. 1310." List of cosponsors. THOMAS (Legislative reference database). Accessed 2009-07-21.
- U.S. Supreme Court. Coeur Alaska, Inc v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, et al. 557 U.S. ___ (2009). Decided 2009-06-22. Slip Opinion No. 07-984.