View the ad criticizing Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) launched a Facebook ad campaign holding Senator Rob Portman accountable for his votes last week on Senator Barrasso’s Dirty Water Bill, S. 1140, and the Congressional Review Act “Resolution of Disapproval,” S. J. Res. 22, which permanently blocked implementation of the EPA’s  and Army Corps of Engineers’ Clean Water Rule. The ads are targeted to Ohio and will run for one week. They are part of a larger $20,000 Facebook ad campaign that aims to hold senators accountable for their votes against clean water.

“Senator Portman’s votes put the clean water of over five million Ohioans at risk,” said Madeleine Foote, LCV Legislative Representative. “The Great Lakes and bodies of water across the state will be at a greater risk of pollution because of his actions.”

“These senators made the reprehensible choice to place polluters’ profits ahead of the clean drinking water of 117 million Americans,” she continued. “These two bills comprised one of the most extreme legislative assaults on our clean water that we’ve seen in the U.S. Senate, threatening the clean water our families, communities, and businesses depend on. These senators did the bidding of big polluters and refused to listen to the overwhelming public support for clean water safeguards.”

On May 27th, the EPA released the final EPA Clean Water Rule, which would restore protections to the small streams and wetlands that feed into the drinking water supply of one in three Americans. These critical safeguards protect the clean water our children and grandchildren drink, swim and play in. On November 3rd, the Senate voted on S. 1140, Senator Barrasso’s Dirty Water Bill, which would not only have blocked implementation of the Clean Water Rule, but also threatened to gut the Clean Water Act itself. On November 4th, the Senate voted on S.J. Res. 22, a radical and obscure Congressional Review Act “Resolution of Disapproval” to stop the rule and permanently prevent the EPA from issuing similar protections in the future.

A recent poll for LCV, done by Hart Research, found overwhelming public support for the Clean Water Rule. The rule was favored by 80 percent of respondents, including a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.

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