Jaime Herrera Beutler: A Page One story Monday confused two different bills dealing with Clean Water Act issues, both supported by U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler. House Resolution 2541, co-sponsored by Herrera Beutler, would undo a 2010 federal court ruling requiring timber companies to get Clean Water Act discharge permits if their operations create runoff from logging roads. The bill has not yet been voted on in the U.S. House, but will be debated by the House beginning this week as part of the 2012 Interior Department appropriations bill. It has attracted bipartisan support. The Sierra Club last week denounced Herrera Beutler for her vote in favor of a separate measure, House Resolution 2018, which would roll back key enforcement provisions of the Clean Water Act, including those that allow downstream states to protect their water from upstream states’ pollution. That measure would make it impossible for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that states have strong, enforceable water quality standards, according to the Sierra Club. That bill passed the House July 13 on a 239-184 vote.
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