Steve Pearce: Bad for New Mexico’s water

Full Report

Who can protect New Mexico’s water?

New Mexicans depend on clean water for drinking, recreation, farming and the preservation of healthy ecosystems for fish and wildlife. Clean water is especially important in arid western states like New Mexico, where there is already too little water to go around.

New Mexico needs a U.S. Senator who understands the importance of clean water to the state’s economy and our environment and who will take on the polluters. Unfortunately, Rep. Steve Pearce has stood with George Bush and the polluters as they have worked to dismantle America’s protections for clean water.

The Bush administration’s assault on clean water

Since passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, America has made great progress toward cleaning up our nation’s waters. However, our rivers, lakes and streams are still in dire need of protection from industrial pollution, contaminated runoff, sewage overflows and a host of other threats. 

Even today, 47 percent of America’s assessed rivers and streams and 59 percent of our assessed lakes are too polluted for fishing, swimming or other uses.[8] Polluters dumped more than 244 million pounds of toxic chemicals into American waterways in 2006.[9] And more than 850 billion gallons of raw or inadequately treated sewage are discharged into waterways each year.[10]

But under George Bush, America has taken a large step backward in the protection of our precious water supplies. Time and again, the Bush administration has pushed to roll back critical protections for clean water. President Bush:

• Moved to eliminate Clean Water Act protections for at least 88 percent of New Mexico’s streams—waterways that are critical for a variety of wildlife and feed the drinking water supplies of more than 200,000 people.[11]

• Curtailed enforcement of the Clean Water Act. For example, major New Mexico facilities exceeded their permitted amounts of water pollution 100 times in 2005.[12]

• Curbed the public’s right to know about toxic pollution of waterways by allowing polluters to conceal more information about their toxic discharges.[13]

• Put the interests of Big Oil ahead of the public by exempting the construction of oil and gas drilling sites from the Clean Water Act.[14]

Cleaning up America’s Waterways

Americans deserve clean water and a healthy environment. To get there, we need to take a few common-sense steps:

• Restore Clean Water Act protections to all U.S. waterways, including source water streams and wetlands.

• Enforce the Clean Water Act to make sure polluters are following the law, reduce discharges of toxic chemicals, sewage and other pollution into waterways, and make polluters pay to clean up the damage they have caused.

• Invest in repairing outdated sewer systems and measures to reduce runoff pollution.

• Defend and expand the public’s right to know to know about the release of toxic pollution into our rivers, lakes and streams.

The 2008 election and clean water

Restoring America’s waterways to health won’t happen by itself. It will take strong leadership. New Mexico’s next U.S. Senator must be willing to stand up to the polluters and work for real solutions to protect the quality of our waterways.

Unfortunately, during his time in the U.S. House, Rep. Steve Pearce has voted consistently to weaken protections for America’s rivers, streams and lakes—putting our environment and the health of the public at risk. On the other hand, Rep. Tom Udall has been a strong leader fighting for protection of New Mexico’s critical water supplies.

Steve Pearce: No friend of clean water

Time and again, Steve Pearce has stood with George Bush and the polluters to weaken protections for America’s waterways. Rep. Pearce:

• Voted to allow polluters to conceal more information about the 54,000 pounds of toxic chemicals dumped each year into New Mexico’s waterways[15]—undermining the public’s right to know about environmental threats.[16]

• Voted to deny Clean Water Act protections to many streams and wetlands[17] at a time when 47 percent of New Mexico’s assessed rivers and streams and 69 percent of New Mexico’s assessed lakes are already too polluted for fishing, swimming or other uses.[18] 

• Voted to give Big Oil a free pass[19] to avoid liability for contamination from the toxic gasoline additive MTBE, which has fouled drinking water supplies serving 39,000 New Mexico residents.[20]

• Voted against critical funding for the repair and upgrading of outdated sewer systems in New Mexico and elsewhere across the country.[21]

Tom Udall: A strong advocate for clean water

New Mexicans have a choice this November. In Rep. Tom Udall, New Mexicans have a champion who is willing to take on the polluters and fight to restore our waterways. During his time in Congress, Rep. Udall:

• Voted to defend the public’s right to know about toxic pollution of our waterways.[22]

• Voted to preserve Clean Water Act protections for all of New Mexico’s rivers, streams and lakes—including our many seasonal waterways.[23]

• Voted to invest in repairing and upgrading our nation’s crumbling sewage infrastructure.[24]

• Voted to hold Big Oil accountable for MTBE contamination of drinking water supplies in New Mexico and across the country.[25]

To protect our waterways, New Mexico should elect Rep. Tom Udall our next U.S. Senator.

About Environment New Mexico

We all want clean air, clean water and open space. But it takes independent research and tough-minded advocacy to win concrete results for our environment, especially when powerful interests stand in the way of environmental progress. That's the idea behind Environment New Mexico. We focus exclusively on protecting New Mexico’s air, water and open space. We speak out and take action at the local, state and national levels to improve the quality of our environment and our lives.

Paid for by Environment New Mexico at www.EnvironmentNewMexico.org and by Environment America at www.EnvironmentAmerica.org.

Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Sources

1 NO vote on Pallone amendment to HR 5386, Vote #165, 18 May 2006.

2 Volume of toxic pollution from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, TRI Explorer: 2006 State Fact Sheet: New Mexico, downloaded from www.epa.gov/triexplorer/statefactsheet.htm, 7 October 2008.

3 NO vote on Oberstar amendment to HR 5386, Vote #169, 18 May 2006.

4 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Assessment Database: Assessment Data for the State of New Mexico Year 2006, downloaded from http://iaspub.epa.gov/waters10/w305b_report_control.get_report?p_state=NM&p_cycle=, 7 October 2008.

5 NO vote on Capps motion to strike, HR6, Vote #129, 21 April 2005.

6 EWG Action Fund, Like Oil and Water: As Congress Considers Legal Immunity for Oil Companies More Communities Go to Court Over MTBE Pollution, April 2005.

7 NO vote on final passage of HR 720, Water Quality Financing Act of 2007, Vote #135, 9 March 2007.

8 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Watershed Assessment, Tracking and Environmental Results: National Summary of State Information, downloaded from iaspub.epa.gov/waters10/attains_nation_cy.control, 7 October 2008.

9 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.

10 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Report to Congress on Impacts and Control of Combined Sewer Overflows and Sanitary Sewer Overflows: Fact Sheet, downloaded from www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/csosso_rtc_factsheet.pdf, 7 October 2008.

11 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Table 1: State-by-State NHD Analysis of Stream Categories and Drinking Water Data, undated.

12 Christy Leavitt, U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Troubled Waters: An Analysis of 2005 Clean Water Act Compliance, October 2007.

13 “Toxics Release Inventory Burden Reduction Final Rule,” Federal Register 71:246, 76932-76945, 22 December 2006.

14 “Amendments to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Regulations for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Processing, or Treatment Operations, or Transmission Facilities; Final Rule,” Federal Register, 71: 33628-33640, 12 June 2006.

15 NO vote on Pallone amendment to HR 5386, Vote #165, 18 May 2006.

16 Volume of toxic pollution from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, TRI Explorer: 2006 State Fact Sheet: New Mexico, downloaded from www.epa.gov/triexplorer/statefactsheet.htm, 7 October 2008.

17 NO vote on Oberstar amendment to HR 5386, Vote #169, 18 May 2006.

18 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Assessment Database: Assessment Data for the State of New Mexico Year 2006, downloaded from http://iaspub.epa.gov/waters10/w305b_report_control.get_report?p_state=NM&p_cycle=, 7 October 2008.

19 NO vote on Capps motion to strike, HR6, Vote #129, 21 April 2005.

20 EWG Action Fund, Like Oil and Water: As Congress Considers Legal Immunity for Oil Companies More Communities Go to Court Over MTBE Pollution, April 2005.

21 NO vote on final passage of HR 720, Water Quality Financing Act of 2007, Vote #135, 9 March 2007.

22 YES vote on Pallone amendment to HR 5386, Vote #165, 18 May 2006.

23 YES vote on Oberstar amendment to HR 5386, Vote #169, 18 May 2006.

24 YES vote on final passage of HR 720, Water Quality Financing Act of 2007, Vote #135, 9 March 2007.

25 YES vote on Capps motion to strike, HR6, Vote #129, 21 April 2005.