Izaak Walton League of America

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued requirements to control mercury and other toxic air emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants – the largest unregulated industrial sources of hazardous air pollution in the United States. The new rules are the culmination of 10 years of work by the Izaak Walton League of America and partner groups to ensure EPA meets its obligations under the Clean Air Act to safeguard the health of all Americans and our natural resources.

As the U.S. Senate debates the budget for the Army Corps of Engineers this week, prominent sportsman-conservation groups roundly criticized an amendment that would defund the administration’s work on Clean Water Act guidance that is crucial to sustaining wetlands and waterways.

Congressman Ron Kind (WI) and Senator Mark Udall (CO) introduced the Healthy Kids Outdoors Act today to support state, local and federal strategies to connect youth and families with the natural world, improve children’s health and support future economic growth and conservation efforts. This legislation will help get Americans active outdoors through natural play; outdoor recreation such as camping, hiking, hunting and fishing; public health initiatives; outdoor learning environments; service learning and other initiatives.

This weekend’s selection of the 2012 Federal Duck Stamp art contest winner – whose work will appear on stamps purchased by every duck hunter in America – puts a spotlight on the nation’s troubled wetland ecosystems. The Izaak Walton League, National Wildlife Federation, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, and Trout Unlimited support restoring Clean Water Act protections for wetlands and other waters that are critical to fish and wildlife populations and our outdoor traditions.

The Izaak Walton League of America today urged decision makers to include a no-cost “Conservation Compliance” stipulation in recommendations to the Super Committee to protect America’s farmland, water and wildlife.