Protect New Hampshire's Lakes

At risk: More than half of New Hampshire’s streams

Right now, more than half of New Hampshire’s streams are vulnerable to pollution and development. Polluters can dump, developers can pave over wetlands to build strip malls, and the cops on the environmental beat can’t do a thing about it.

And it’s not just small streams and wetlands that will suffer — these waterways are the same ones that feed our lakes and help to keep them clean.

Polluters poke holes in Clean Water Act

Over the past decade, polluters and irresponsible developers have used the courts to strip Clean Water Act protections from small streams and wetlands.

They want to throw out nearly 40 years of Clean Water Act protection, leaving polluting industries free to dump into our streams and pave over our wetlands without asking for permission.

The EPA can protect our lakes — but Congress threatens to stand in the way

Since 2006, we have been urging Congress to protect our lakes by simply declaring that the Clean Water Act applies to all of New Hampshire’s — and America’s — waters. But industry lobbyists and powerful polluters won out. Instead, we turned to the EPA for action.

This spring, we and our allies across the country submitted more than 170,000 petitions to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, urging her to restore protections to all of our waters. In April, she announced a plan to do just that.

But polluters’ allies in Congress won’t give up — and now they’re threatening to stop the EPA from doing its job. At the same time, powerful corporate interests are preparing for battle: ExxonMobil threatened “legal warfare” if the EPA moves forward with its plan to restore Clean Water Act protections.

Our plan to defend New Hampshire’s lakes

We refuse to let polluters and their allies in Congress open our precious waterways to more dumping and development. We’re bringing together Granite Staters from all walks of life to protect Winnipesaukee, Winnisquam, Ossipee and all of our lakes. From anglers to sailing enthusiasts, clergy to scientists, local officials to ordinary families, we all have a stake in keeping our water clean.

Our citizen outreach staff has been knocking on doors across the state, educating New Hampshire residents about what’s at stake. But if we’re going to push past ExxonMobil and other powerful polluters, we’re going to need everyone who cares about our lakes to get involved. Join our campaign by sending the EPA a message today.