A victory for clean water
Mingo Creek is home to a variety of trout, offering the fishing enthusiast both diversity and challenge. The county park of the same name offers playgrounds, picnic areas and trails for scenic afternoons. Lined with trees and passing through rural areas, Mingo Creek offers a peaceful, soothing run.
For years, 59 percent of the state’s streams have lacked guaranteed protection under the nation’s Clean Water Act, allowing developers to pave over them, or industrial polluters to dump waste in them without even obtaining a permit. Protections announced Wednesday that would extend Clean Water Act protections to those streams is the biggest victory for clean water in over a decade.
Unfortunately, major polluters, including the oil and gas industry and developers, are pushing the U.S. Senate to block it. We need Sen. Bob Casey to continue standing up to polluters and support this effort to protect our drinking water and Mingo Creek for our families today and for generations to come.
Lucia Hermann
Pittsburgh
Hermann is the clean water coordinator for PennEnvironment.