Last week the GOP-led House of Representatives passed the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act on a near party line vote, a vote that opponents say they were outspent 23 to 1 in contesting.
The bill would amend the Clean Water Act by restricting the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to issue a revised or new water quality standard for a pollutant whenever a state has adopted and EPA already has approved a water quality standard for that pollutant. It would also "prevent unilateral actions by the EPA that second-guess the decisions of the state regulatory agency."
Thursday morning in Maitland, Florida, a host of environmental activists protested outside Republican Congressman John Mica's local congressional office. The Florida Republican Representative sponsored the bill, which opponents are referring to as Mica's "Dirty Water" bill, claiming it would leave Florida without strong legal protections against pollution discharged in places like Lake Apopka, the St. John’s River, the Indian River Lagoon, the Caloosahatchee River, Lake Okeechobee, the Gulf of Mexico and the Everglades.
