GreenLatinos Urges President Biden to Veto Resolution that undermines the Clean Water Act

WASHINGTON— Today, The U.S. Senate voted to overturn the Biden Administration’s recently released "Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule- a vote which not only undermines the Clean Water Act, but also prevents any future administrations from issuing a similar rule.

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

“With this vote, all present Republicans and some Democrats have aligned with corporate interests and ignored the reality that if we truly value water as a human right, then our waters need to be better protected so that our communities have access to clean, healthy, reliable and affordable water. Continuing to create confusion around what the Clean Water Act’s purpose is and who is “burdened by regulations,” goes against recent polls, which states that 71 percent of Latine people say that pollution in rivers, lakes and streams is a very big or moderately big issue in their communities. This statistic further exemplifies how decision makers need to prioritize holding polluters accountable.

We stand with our frontline communities and communities of color who are already seeing firsthand the consequences of not valuing the life that our waters bring and will continue to advocate for the interconnectedness of life. In addition, we urge the Members of Congress that supported this dangerous resolution to take a step back and reflect on their decision and the impacts on the health of our water and the people who would be most impacted. These decisions have real world impacts and should not be taken lightly. We urge President Biden to follow through and reject this effort by vetoing this WOTUS Congressional Review Act joint resolution.”

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GreenLatinos (NOTE: GreenLatinos is one word) is an active comunidad of Latino/a/e leaders, emboldened by the power and wisdom of our culture, united to demand equity and dismantle racism, resourced to win our environmental, conservation, and climate justice battles, and driven to secure our political, economic, cultural, and environmental liberation.