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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Congress Looks at Making Sure PA Clean Water Doesn’t Drip Away

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Wednesday, April 16, 2008   

Harrisburg, PA – Keeping Pennsylvania's natural clean drinking water sources from going down the drain will be part of a discussion in Congress today, at a hearing about updating the federal Clean Water Act. Recent Supreme Court rulings have removed pollution protections for some of the nation's smaller streams and wetlands, and the proposed update would clearly label those waterways as included under the Act.

Jim Murphy, who serves as Wetlands and Water Resources Counsel for the National Wildlife Federation, says it's an important clarification, because wetlands and streams act as nature's water filters.

"The most economical way to preserve clean water is to protect it at its source, to make sure that we don't sully the streams and wetlands."

Its critics say the proposal could be disastrous to farmers who use those waterways. Murphy disagrees, saying the proposal includes exemptions for some types of agricultural use.

Murphy credits the original Clean Water Act for the recovery of Lake Erie, which he says had been declared biologically "dead" before the pollution protections came into play. As a result, he says, Pennsylvanians are particularly sensitive to the need for the Clean Water Restoration Act, H.R. 2421.

"People are very concerned about ensuring that, when they turn on the tap, they have clean water. For that to happen, you have to protect the sources that provide our clean water."

Murphy says the smaller waterways also are critical to wildlife habitat and recreation. He expects two Pennsylvania Congressmen, Jim Gerlach and Tim Holden, to influence the future of the bill.



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