"Debra Shankland was a kid when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire in 1969.
“I saw the dead fish, I smelled it,” the retired biologist and environmental educator told a room of US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) representatives on Wednesday.
Shankland was one of many speakers at the latest listening session led by the EPA as the agency crafts a new definition for the long controversial language “waters of the United States” contained in the Clean Water Act. The interpretation of that phrase, commonly shorthanded as WOTUS, can have massive implications for the health of small streams, remote wetlands, creeks and other waters.
The EPA, along with the Army Corps of Engineers, released a memo in March that narrowed the scope of what waters receive protection. The listening session this week is part of a larger public comment period on the agency actions to re-shape federal water regulation after years of confusion and debate."
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