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KWA deepened our commitment to protecting our waterways last year through the revitalization of our Policy Program. This allowed us to address both state and federal challenges to clean water which resulted in more frequent communications to our members about complicated issues, proposals, and processes. We also asked you more often to tell your elected representatives that clean water for drinking, recreation, farming, business, and wildlife is important to you. We encouraged you to speak up for or against specific legislation and proposed rules.
It is easy to feel like these efforts are in vain, but silence has a real cost: when lawmakers don’t hear from the people who care about clean water, they assume it isn’t a priority. Every message, call, and signature helps remind them that protecting our waterways matters to the people they represent. In the last part of 2025 and early 2026 KWA shared information and action alerts for the following Federal legislation and rulemaking:
We’ve asked a lot of you this year and therefore providing this update on the status of Federal legislation and rulemaking. Thank you for speaking up for clean water. This list was last updated on 1/13/26. Ohio River Basin Restoration Act
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KWA's first action of the new year was to take a stand against the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed revisions to the definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS). The proposed definition would dramatically weaken the Clean Water Act by sharply reduce protections for drinking water, streams, wetlands, and groundwater. These loss of protections would result in increase flooding, pollution, and costs for local water treatment in Kentucky. KWA and our allies at Kentucky Resources Committee, Kentucky Sierra Club, Kentucky Conservation Committee, and Appalachian Citizens Law Center jointly submitted formal comments to the EPA opposing a proposed the revised rule.
When Kentucky passed SB89 earlier this year and made it law, Kentucky became the only state in the United States to abandon its jurisdictional authority over its own water, surrendering this power to the federal government. This proposed rule change will have negative impacts throughout the nation. But unlike any other state, if adopted, it will leave Kentucky singularly without recourse or the power to protect our drinking water, or waterways used for hunting, fishing, boating, agriculture, and business. |
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