Clean Water Action Statement on the Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court

www.cleanwateraction.org/releases/nomination-brett-kavanaugh-us-supreme-court

For Immediate Release: August 6, 2018

Contact: Amy Goldsmith, NJ State Director, Clean Water Action; 732-895-2502; agoldsmith@cleanwater.org

Brick, NJ–At a press conference at Trader’s Cove Marina held by US Senator Menendez and Booker along with other environmental groups, Amy Goldsmith, NJ State Director of Clean Water Action, made the following statement about the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court:

“Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the US Supreme Court may be good for polluters, but is not good for the health and well-being of the Garden State and country. This is especially true if the Pruitt (Wheeler) EPA and Congress have their way in dismantling existing environmental and public health protections.

With Kavanaugh’s appointment, New Jersey and the nation could essentially lose a lifetime, 80 years, of environmental protections – i.e. 40 years of progress since the passage of the Clean Water Action and Safe Drinking Water Act in the 1970’s when our nation’s waters were literally burning and 40 years with Kavanaugh as a US Supreme Court judge, limiting agency discretion and powers to address environmental imperatives of the day such as climate change.

In the past, the courts have often served as environmental protectors of last resort. This was true when the EPA did not enforce existing laws and regulations on their own, tried to improperly undo protections (as we have seen with the current administration) or polluters attempted to overturn safeguarding regulations.

This was true when the courts upheld the EPA’s authority to regulate mercury and other toxic power plant emissions. Air deposition of mercury in New Jersey’s waters are the principal reason why the state issued mercury fish advisories for the consumption of both fresh and salt water fish throughout New Jersey.

More recently, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of clean water and against wrongdoers who wanted to restrict the definition of the “waters of the US” as original intended by the Clean Water Act. This ruling ensures that New Jersey’s “category 1” waters, i.e. reservoirs, rivers and streams, sources of our drinking water continue to receive the highest level of protection from degradation. These protected waters are found all over the state – from the Highlands where 4.5 million people depend on it for drinking to Swimming River in Monmouth County and the upper stretches of the Metedeconk River where we stand today.

The Jersey Shore’s health as well as the well-being of the tourist, fishing, food and pharma industry are all dependent on clean water and clean air. The Courts are key to protecting us from polluters and wrongdoers. If Kavanaugh’s past record is any indication, the US Supreme Court will almost certainly not tilt towards environmental justice with Judge Kavanaugh on the bench. For this and many other reasons, Clean Water Action is proud to stand with US Senators Menendez and Booker. Together we say NO to Kavanaugh’s life time appointment to our nation’s highest court.”

View NJDEP Fish Advisory at:  https://www.nj.gov/dep/dsr/fishadvisories/freshwater-advisories.htm

EPA at: https://www.epa.gov/fish-tech/national-listing-fish-advisories-questions-and-answers-2011

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Clean Water Action, founded in 1974, is a one million-member nationwide organization with more than 100,000 New Jersey members. We work to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table. We fight for clean water; environmental justice, and environmentally safe jobs and businesses despite the hostile anti-environment climate in our nation’s capital. www.cleanwateraction.org/nj