New rules limiting clean water protections ignore stream science

Sections of the Little Colorado River in northern Arizona are ephemeral, flowing most frequently during the spring to accommodate snowmelt runoff or during the summer monsoon season. In this view, the river is at flood stage, with water cascading over the falls. Dale Nations/Flickr CC What happens to part of a river network affects all of … Read more

Can EPA Maintain Its Mission?

Above: Los Angeles in the 1970s and now. What does it take to get from dirty to clean? Learn here. From our partners at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program Since Donald Trump became President and Scott Pruitt his EPA Administrator, the EPA has worked assiduously to remove, weaken, or delay a … Read more

State of Risk: How Weakening EPA Imperils Our Health, Families, Jobs & Economy

EPA was created to protect our air, water, lands –  and, above all, our health.  Since its creation in 1970, EPA has made our air and water cleaner, prevented millions of asthma attacks and hospitalizations, and avoided hundreds of thousands of premature deaths, all while America enjoyed a growing economy and expanding population.  Protecting the … Read more

Pruitt’s Strategic Plan for EPA – and Why It Matters

  The Trump/Pruitt team has released its roadmap for EPA. What is strategic planning? A systematic process of envisioning a desired future, and translating this vision into broadly defined goals or objectives and a sequence of steps to achieve them. Strategic plans create a framework for accountability between the Agency, Congress and the American people. … Read more

I Am a 30-Year Veteran Scientist from US EPA; I Can’t Afford to Be Discouraged

Two large smokestacks on an industrial plant spewing pollution.

. . . And neither can you. Since January, we have seen a continual assault on our environmental protections. EPA has put a political operative with no scientific experience in charge of vetting EPA grants, and the agency is reconsidering an Obama-era regulation on coal ash. The well-established legal processes for promulgating environmental regulations, and—very … Read more

Our best climate program is under attack

Rows of vehicles in traffic spewing emissions.

“Clean car standards are one of the quickest, most effective and easiest ways to help us get on the right track to carbon-free transportation and a safer, healthier climate.” By Garrett Garner-Wells, Paul Guzyk and Luke Walch Boulder Daily Camera  10/03/2017 What if we told you there’s a five-year-old who is on the front lines … Read more

NEPA: Ensuring Transparency and Accountability in Government

Highway bridge elevated above the Colorado River to avoid stream channelization

It has become patently obvious that President Trump does not regard environmental protection as a high priority in his Administration.  One of his stated goals is to cut the so-called regulatory red tape that slows down his agenda for Making America Great Again!  One of the targets of his red-tape cutting is the National Environmental … Read more

Defending Bristol Bay

Braided waterways and wetlands create rich salmon spawning grounds

Withdrawal of Clean Water Act protections for Bristol Bay, Alaska (Pebble Mine)  Comment by October 17 The Trump Administration is proposing to reverse restrictions on discharge of mining wastes in Alaska’s Bristol Bay watershed, the largest sockeye salmon spawning area in the world.  The proposal was published July 19, 2017. The public comment period is … Read more

The CLEAN WATER RULE – Why “Navigability” Matters

History of the Clean Water Act Cuyahoga River – then and now In 1969 the Cuyahoga River in Ohio burst into flames.  Time magazine’s photos of the burning river noted that it was so saturated with sewage and industrial waste that it “oozes rather than flows.”  A record number of fish kills were also recorded … Read more

Clean Water Rule (WOTUS) Comment Period Open

Stream showing low water and high water mark.

Comment by August 28 The Trump Administration wants to remove Clean Water Act protections from two million miles of waterways and millions of acres of wetlands. Rollback of this rule would put drinking water at risk for 117 million Americans.  The public comment period is ongoing; comments must be received on or before 11:59 pm … Read more

Save EPA has been an all-volunteer group of former EPA officials who became alarmed about the Trump agenda for EPA and joined together to fight it.

With newly-elected President-Elect Biden and VP-Elect Harris coming in January, the need to "save EPA" is much less urgent. This is not to imply all clear skies ahead - there is much re-building to do, there will be negative pressures on the new administration, and we will likely have policy differences in the future. However, we are hopeful that these differences will be discussed rationally, using science as a basis for moving forward, and keeping EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment in the forefront.

And so, we are going back to retirement!  We're keeping our website up at http://saveepaalums.info/ , as a resource for those who want to follow and influence the restoration work. Our report on the Trump record at EPA describes the actions that need to be reversed [saveepaalums.info/Trump+era+report], and our guide to participating in the rulemaking process [http://saveepaalums.info/Resistance+Guide] can help you be part of the solution.

Thank you for your support and commitment during the past 3.5 years.  While the Trump assaults were unending, they were also frequently unsuccessful, and that was due in large part to public outrage.  Keep it up!  Although EPA will be in much better hands with a Biden administration, there is always a need for an informed and engaged public.

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