Clean Water is Good for Business, and for Beer!
"Clean Water is Good for Business, and for Beer!" via The Huffington Post
by Jenn Vervier, Director of Strategic Development and Sustainability, New Belgium Brewing Company
At New Belgium Brewing, we not only make Fat Tire Amber Ale and about 15 other beers at one time, we also cultivate our Alternatively Empowered culture. New Belgium Brewing takes pride in being a responsible corporate role model with progressive programs such as employee ownership, open book management, and a commitment to environmental stewardship. We also strive to leverage the strength of our brand when necessary to support public policy that reflects our environmental and social ethos.
Right now, we need to stand up for the Clean Water Act.
2012 is the 40th anniversary for the Clean Water Act, one of America's bedrock environmental laws that have protected Americans as well as America's waters from toxic pollution. Passed in 1972 with wide bipartisan support in Congress, the Clean Water Act has transformed our waterways across the United States, resulting in cleaner and healthier water, better fishing and swimming, healthier ecosystems, and improvements to cities' drinking water supplies.
Unfortunately, a previous presidential administration weakened Clean Water Act programs so that we cannot assume that all our water is protected. Here in Colorado, for example, the Cache la Poudre River and the Colorado River -- which are the source waters for New Belgium's beer -- are protected by the Clean Water Act, but all of the seasonal and intermittent streams in the mountains that feed into the Poudre and the Colorado are vulnerable to these "No Protection" policies.
That's why we need to speak out now to restore the protections Congress intended when it passed the Clean Water Act in 1972.
In the coming weeks, President Obama and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are expected to finalize "guidance" that starts to close these loopholes so that Colorado's seasonal mountain streams are protected. New Belgium Brewing supports this commonsense policy. We'd like to see protections restored to all rivers, lakes, and wetlands - large and small - that safeguard our drinking water and the public's health.
*This article originally appeared on The Huffington Post.
