Green group: Voters like EPA water rule

The public likes the Obama administration’s proposed water rule, according to a new poll from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV). 

Eighty percent of the 800 registered voters LCV surveyed earlier this month said they support the Environmental Protection Agency’s “waters of the United States” rule, which would let the EPA redefine which streams, ponds, wetlands and other waterways are under its regulatory jurisdiction.

{mosads}According to the group’s poll, majorities of voters in both parties support the proposed rule, the final version of which could come this year. The group’s pollster said the proposal, which LCV calls the “clean water rule,” has the support of nearly 70 percent of voters in rural areas.

“Our poll showed that the public also overwhelmingly supports this rule,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, LCV’s senior vice president for government affairs said. “Unfortunately, however, the Republican leadership in Congress is desperately trying to halt this important, scientifically-sound rule in its tracks.”

LCV’s poll comes as congressional Republicans ramp up their efforts to stop the rule, which they say would give the government the power to regulate small bodies of water like puddles and ditches. Agriculture groups have opposed the rule, as well, saying it would interfere with their abilities to do business.

The House recently passed a bill to block the rule and a handful of committees will hold hearings on it this week. LCV officials said they plan to make voters’ support of the proposal known on Capitol Hill.

“We’ll be sharing all these results with everyone on the Hill. There are a lot of attacks coming on the clean water rule,” Madeleine Foote, LCV’s legislative representative, said. “We will work to make sure that the overwhelming support for the clean water rule, moving forward, is known to everyone.”