Greenfield, MA. February 18, 2011. We don’t make this request often, but we need you to call your U.S. Representative right NOW and urge them to vote NO on H.R. 1 and on all anti-environmental amendments! We have been told the House is expected to vote either late tonight or early tomorrow on Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1) to fund the federal government through September. Your calls right now are vitally important. The current CR expires on March 4. House lawmakers have been debating and considering nearly 600 amendments to the 359-page measure.

In its proposed form, this Continuing Resolution (CR) bill slashes critical funding for water and other environmental protections. According to a House Appropriations Committee summary sheet, the proposed CR cuts $3 billion from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget, which is 29% below fiscal year 2010. It also cuts 1.4 billion from the Department of Interior, including $532 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), and $5.2 billion from the Department of Agriculture, including $190 million from the Farm Services Agency and $173 million from the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

In addition to these dramatic budget cuts to critical environmental programs, the House CR includes two provisions – one that would prohibit EPA from taking administrative action to clarify the definition of “waters of the U.S.” and another that would prohibit EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. These provisions have nothing to do with saving money and don’t belong in a spending bill. They are simply brutal attacks aimed at preventing EPA from doing its job, which is to protect public health and the environment.

More information, including text of the two provisions and information about additional amendments, can be found from our friends at Clean Water Network: http://www.cleanwaternetwork.org/.

Stand up against this needless assault on public health and the environment! Please call your Representative NOW and urge them to vote NO on these anti-environment amendments and NO on the CR bill (H.R. 1). To find out who your U.S. Representative is, go to http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html. To be connected to your U.S. Representative’s office, call the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121.

We appreciate your help in blocking Congress’s attempts to dismantle recent progress made on clean water and the environment.