For years most streams and nearly 20 million acres of wetlands that provide drinking water for nearly 117 million Americans have languished without protections.  Because these vital parts of our water infrastructure are unprotected, polluters have been able to trash them without consequence. It's time to fix that. The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers are working to address this problem.

Instead of supporting these efforts, many in Congress are standing in the way of this clean water progress.  An Amendment by Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), would permenantly bar the Army Corps from completing this essential work, ensuring that 117 million Americans won't have access to clean drinking water. 

It's not just our water that Congress is aiming for.  As the year comes to a close, both the Senate and the House were determined to make December 2011 a polluter-free-for-all when it comes to our air and health protections too.  Whether it's allowing industry to emit unlimited amounts of arsenic, forcing the EPA to ignore science when it comes to Mountain Top Removal Coal mining, or not protecting the drinking water for 117 million of us, Congress showed us who they really represent.