Nationwide, Waterways In Deep Trouble
More than 62 percent of industrial and municipal facilities across the country discharged more pollution into U.S. waterways than their Clean Water Act permits allowed between July 2003 and December 2004, according to the U.S. PIRG report “Troubled Waters: An Analysis Of Clean Water Act Compliance.”

Using the Freedom of Information Act, U.S. PIRG obtained data on major facilities’ compliance with their National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits between July 1, 2003 and December 31, 2004. U.S. PIRG researchers found that polluters repeatedly exceeded their permit limits, often by egregious amounts.

U.S. PIRG called on the Bush administration to back off its efforts to weaken the Clean Water Act, including withdrawing its 2003 policy directive that eliminates Clean Water Act protections for many small streams, wetlands and other waters around the country.

“Polluters are using America’s waters as their dumping ground. Instead of solving the problem, the Bush administration has repeatedly shortchanged the EPA’s budget and is undermining essential clean water programs,” said U.S. PIRG Clean Water Advocate Christy Leavitt.

Using the votes at annual investor meetings, shareholders are able to send a message to corporations. In 2006 Green Century Funds supported a resolution asking Ford to review its longstanding practice of lobbying against increased Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. The resolution was supported by 7.1 percent of those who voted at the annual meeting. And more than 25.8 percent of ConocoPhillips shareholders voted in favor of a resolution asking the company to recognize—and eventually stay out of—sensitive areas within the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska, particularly areas near Teshekpuk Lake.

D.C. City Council Takes On Identity Theft
In July, U.S. PIRG Consumer Program Director Ed Mierzwinski testified before the Washington, D.C. City Council in support of a proposed security freeze law that would give D.C. residents strong protections against identity theft. Unlike other privacy rights that help people clean up after identity theft, only the PIRG-developed security freeze actually allows consumers to stop identity theft before it starts.

The proposed bill is based on the state PIRG/Consumers Union Model State Identity Theft Law. U.S. PIRG will continue to press our case to the City Council for a strong, free, and easy-to-use security freeze law.

Keeping Rigs Off The Gulf, Atlantic, Pacific Coasts
Even though the House protected a 25-year congressional moratorium on oil and gas drilling off the shores of 17 states in June, the Senate passed a narrower bill one month later that would allow drilling in 8 million protected acres in the Gulf of Mexico.

Unfortunately, the House later reversed their earlier vote and on July 26 passed the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act.

“This was round eight in a ten-round fight,” said Oceans Advocate Mike Gravitz. “Congress failed to seek solutions that would provide long-lasting answers to our dependence on fossil fuels. Instead, pro-drilling forces enjoy an increasingly hospitable climate in Congress.”