GreenLatinos Statement on Supreme Court Case Sackett v. EPA

WASHINGTON - Today, the Supreme Court heard from the nation’s most egregious polluters – including oil and gas companies, mining, and developers, along with their pro-polluter allies in Congress – who are trying to change one of our nation's best protections for our water—the  Clean Water Act and block the Environmental Protection Agency from safeguarding our public waters. 

In response to the proposed plan, Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes, GreenLatinos Director of Strategic Initiatives, issued the following statement:

“Our water is deeply connected - it is as connected in our earth as we are connected to it and our very own survival. If the Supreme Court, in its ruling in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, were to hold that the Clean Water Act excludes most wetlands and streams, this would pose a grave danger to communities across the country, especially our Latino/a/x communities that already see much of the pollution caused by polluters not the people. According to recent polls, 71 percent of Latino/a/x people say that pollution in rivers, lakes and streams is a very big or moderately big issue in their communities.  Low-wealth communities, Indigenous communities, and other communities of color all too often bear the brunt of toxic pollution, flooding, and excessive industrial development."

Ean Tafoya, Colorado Program Director for GreenLatinos added:

“What’s more, the petitioners are asking the Court to significantly narrow how we define protected waters, which could drastically expand the private sector’s ability to exploit, contaminate, or destroy ecosystems that today play a fundamental role in safeguarding one of our most precious resources. The Supreme Court must uphold the Clean Water Act’s long standing safeguards for the health of all communities.”

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