skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

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.

Hunters, Anglers Support EPA Clean Water Policy

play audio
Play

Tuesday, August 11, 2015   

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Over half of Tennessee residents take part in outdoor recreation each year, according to the Outdoor Industry Association. Among them are hunters and anglers who consider themselves conservative, yet support an EPA clean water policy that has been described as controversial.

According to a survey commissioned by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), a percentage of more than four of five hunters and anglers favor the plan to apply Clean Water Act protections to some smaller headwaters and wetlands – protections that had been under a legal cloud. Steve Moyer, vice president for government affairs at Trout Unlimited, is a longtime fisherman.

"People in Appalachia really do care about the health of their streams and rivers, and they worry about the threats to clean water," he says.

The new policy clarifies which waterways are defined as Waters of the U.S., and are therefore protected under the Clean Water Act. The coal industry has criticized the plan as over-regulation, and Republicans in Congress may attempt to overturn it. But the NWF survey was conducted jointly by two polling firms, one Republican and one Democrat, and found strong support for the rule even among political conservatives.

Across the spectrum – age, geography, political orientation – Tennesseans who took part in the survey said clean water is a top priority. Lifelong hunter Ed Perry, outreach coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation, says the poll found three out of four Republican outdoor enthusiasts support the policy.

"It was deep and broad-based support, all across the country, with 73 percent of Republican hunters and anglers supporting the rule, 83 percent of Independents and 95 percent of Democrats," he says.

Some national farm and real estate development groups oppose the new EPA policy. Farm groups argue it would mean regulation of every irrigation ditch and stock pond under the Clean Water Act.

According to the EPA, that is an inaccurate interpretation of the policy.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021