The Cleanest Line Blog

01/28

An article that really stuck out to me on the Cleanest Line is “Why the Clean Water Act Means So Much” by Prince Shakur which discussed the fears and experiences of people that live in or around areas without clean water due to contamination. There has been a fight for clean water and the environment to be treated better by corporations and for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enforce protection. Suing the EPA for not doing its job shows how serious activists are and how much they care.

It is stated that the Act is necessary because of the rollbacks of environmental policies and regulation by the Trump administration. The Clean Water Act would set some regulations towards polluters due to the fat that individual states don’t have the authority to control all sources of pollution. The article explains what the Clean Water Act would look like and the positive affects of it for places without clean water legal rights to protect the environment. Places like Lake Erie are proof that enforcement of regulations against polluting can make a significant impact on the status of the water. Past generations that feared for their safety being around the water can now take their families there for recreational purposes and that is amazing to the older generations to see the change that Acts like this make.

Low income communities and/or communities that consist of a majority of minorities are affected by climate change at a significantly high and disproportioned rate which is why it gets less media coverage. The government is failing to protect and value the lives of these communities so we came together to create the Clean Water Act.