Thank you for recently taking action on the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 2020 bill. Thanks to YOU, the House of Representatives passed legislation last week that includes major wins for the Mississippi River, including increased appropriations funding for habitat restoration, science, and monitoring as well as authorization for a full watershed study of the Upper Mississippi River. Increase your impact and thank Representative Ron Kind for championing these important pieces of WRDA!

It is important that our decision-makers hear from River Citizens like you, all throughout the country, who are committed to making their voice heard! Thank you for speaking up and for all that you do to protect the health and resilience of the Mississippi River.

[Comment period ends 3/10!] Your voice is needed today to protect the ‘people’s environmental law’ – the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). With an emphasis on “smart from the start” federal decision making, NEPA protects our health, our homes, and our environment, while ensuring we, the public, have a voice. Since 1970, NEPA has empowered citizens and demanded government accountability on major projects such as constructing a dam, highway, or power plant.

2019 has seen record floods on the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio Rivers and many of their tributaries. These high-water events are a vivid reminder of the role that natural systems can play in flood mitigation and river management.

Natural Infrastructure means the system of floodplains and wetlands that are part of a healthy functioning river system – these areas hold water and can help take pressure off the levee system by acting as “safety valves” for floodwaters that can threaten communities and towns.

Natural Infrastructure can help reduce the costs from flood damage and repair (and can also help clean the water by filtering and processing nutrients and sediments.) A growing number of cities and states are embracing Natural Infrastructure because of its fiscal benefits, as well as those for the environment.

Urge Congress and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand the use of Natural Infrastructure in flood policy and planning in the Mississippi River System by signing this online petition TODAY:

Nutrient pollution in the Mississippi River Basin negatively impacts drinking water for over 20 million people and is fueling the annual Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic ‘Dead Zone’. Record flooding in 2019 has exacerbated the problem and this year’s Gulf Hypoxic Zone is forecasted to be one of the largest on record at around 7,829 square miles (equivalent in size to the total landmass of Massachusetts!).

This problem has knowingly been going on for decades and improvement goals aren’t being met. Fortunately, solutions in agricultural conservation and management, ecosystem restoration, and improved infrastructure exist but are NOT receiving necessary funding from Congress for implementation on the scale that is required for clean water and a healthy Mississippi River.

People and wildlife along the Mississippi River are being jeopardized by construction of enormous structures in the River that raise flood levels and destroy fish habitat.

The US Army Corps of Engineers has already constructed more than 1.5 miles of structures for each mile of the middle length of the Mississippi River.

Now, they are proposing to build even more.

Let the Army Corps know you want them to take a closer look at potential harm before the River is damaged. Click here to act now.

The latest attack on clean water and our tributary streams and wetlands is underway. Your support is needed now.

Polluters and other opponents are pushing repeal of the 2015 Clean Water Rule as part of a huge assault on basic protections for clean water, including the Clean Water Act. They even are demanding that the federal government be required to ignore the economic benefits provided by wetlands.

Unfortunately, US EPA Chief Scott Pruitt has listened to polluters not the public and started the repeal process. Act now to repel that repeal.

Repeal is a massive waste of time and taxpayer money that will put the drinking water of 1 in 3 of us at risk while a much weaker rule is proposed.

They are rushing their repeal by restricting the opportunity for public comment. Act now to ensure your voice is heard by your decision makers. Click here to repel the repeal.

Tens of thousands of Americans joined forces to stop the environmentally devastating Yazoo Pumps project in 2008—saving 200,000 acres of wetlands along the Mississippi River that support hundreds of species of wildlife, including the threatened Louisiana Black Bear. 

But some members of Congress hope to reverse this progress and put some of the nation’s richest wetlands back on the chopping block.

Take Action Now to Stop Congress from destroying vital wetlands habitat.

In a throwback to another era and contrary to federal policy, the Yazoo Pumps would drain wetlands so a handful of wealthy families could intensify agricultural production. This project would be a catastrophe for the environment and taxpayers. Senator John McCain has called this $220 million Army Corps of Engineers’ project “one of the worst ever conceived of by Congress.”

Thanks to you and many others who spoke out against the Yazoo Pumps, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency vetoed this wasteful project in 2008.  Don’t let Congress throw away this crucial victory.  

Please tell your members of Congress to protect the nation’s vital wetlands, uphold Clean Water Act protections, and abandon efforts to resurrect the antiquated, wasteful, and devastating Yazoo Pumps.

Major floods carry major amounts of water and it has to go somewhere. That is why the New Madrid Floodway was established – to allow wetlands to serve as a relief valve during large floods to protect River communities and soak up excess flood water. But these critical wetlands are in danger of being cut off from the River by a new levee.

Help us save these wetlands by stopping the New Madrid Levee Project

Some in Congress continue trying to block the Clean Water Rule. Your Senators and Representative need to hear from you again that you support the Clean Water Rule and oppose legislative and budgetary roadblocks that would prevent it from protecting our streams and wetlands.

The US EPA and the US Army Corps of Engineers diligently worked through the federal government’s normal rule-making process (click here for more information on the Clean Water Act), to release a clarifying rule that received over 800,000 comments of support, hundreds of which came from River Citizens like us.

We need to stand together against legislative or budgetary roadblocks that would prevent the Clean Water Rule from going into effect.

Unfortunately, some members of Congress continue to stop the EPA and Army Corps from doing their job and attempting to kill the Rule. We need your help again to remind Congress that you support the Clean Water Rule.

It’s easy to send a letter to your Senators and Representative showing your support for the Clean Water Rule, just enter your zip code here.

Let them know that you support protection of our streams and wetlands and you oppose Congressional efforts to block the rule —you can even edit this language to put it in your own words.

Thank you for all you do in support of clean water and a healthier Mississippi River!

LWCF is one of the most important conservation programs we have to ensure national parks, trails and monuments, many on or near the Mississippi River, are here for future generations. This bipartisan legislation has lasted 50 years bit it will expire September 30 unless Congress reauthorizes this important conservation program.

Tell your US Representative and Senators that the LWCF is should be reauthorized.