Press Release

August 28, 2025

Calling on Iowa Delegation to Oppose the PERMIT Act

“If Congress passes the PERMIT Act, it will make Iowa's already challenging water issues worse"

DES MOINES – Today, a letter signed by 14 organizations in Iowa was delivered to all four Iowa members of Congress’ House of Representatives, urging them to vote against federal legislation that would reduce waterway protections under the long-established Clean Water Act and give a pass to polluters to pollute more into our already-threatened Iowa waters.

Legislation is currently pending in the US House of Representatives, the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act (“PERMIT Act,” H.R. 3898) that, if passed by Congress and signed into law, would “PERMIT” more pollution to be discharged into Iowa’s waterways, threaten the health of Iowans, and remove protections from wetlands and small streams that filter out pollution and reduce flooding. This legislation could be voted on as early as next week when members of Congress head back to Washington, DC.

“If Congress passes the PERMIT Act, it will make Iowa’s already challenging water issues worse,” said Matt Ohloff, Policy Advocate in the Environmental Law & Policy Center’s Des Moines office. “This legislation is the most dangerous, misguided weakening of the Clean Water Act that Congress has considered in decades. The PERMIT Act would dramatically narrow Clean Water Act protections that Iowans have relied upon for more than 50 years to safeguard Iowa’s rivers and lakes. We depend on those waterways for drinking water, for swimming and boating, for businesses that need clean water, and to support thriving fish and wildlife populations.”

The PERMIT Act would gut the Clean Water Act by allowing the following:

• Allow pesticides, already harming water quality in Iowa, to be discharged into Iowa’s rivers without Clean Water Act permits.
• Protect polluters who discharge toxic “forever chemicals”, known as PFAS, into Iowa’s waters, without notifying Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which issues permits.
• Allow US EPA and the US Army Corps of Engineers to remove wetlands and other waterways from Clean Water Act protection, leaving downstream rivers and streams and drinking water sources completely unprotected from upstream pollution.
• Iowa waterways could also end up with polluted waters flowing in from other states whose Clean Water Act protections have also been diminished. And fewer wetlands mean less filtering of pollution, less protection from flooding, and harm to wildlife. Limit the authority of Iowa and its tribes to make decisions to protect waterways from oil and gas and carbon pipelines.
• Allow wetlands destruction permits to be issued for projects that would kill or harm endangered species, including the barn owl, piping plover, and yellow mud turtle.
• Learn more about the PERMIT Act here.

Deaconess Irene DeMaris, Executive Director of Iowa Faith & Climate Network, said:
“Clean water is not optional. It is essential to life, a gift of our planet, and a moral responsibility. The PERMIT Act puts polluters ahead of our communities and our collective futures. People of diverse faith and spirituality across Iowa are calling on Congress to reject this dangerous bill and instead strengthen protections for the rivers, lakes, and streams that sustain our families, communities, farmers, and future generations.”

Patricia Fuller, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement member, Council Bluffs, said:
“We cannot continue to play politics when it comes to our impaired waters affecting our health, especially since we have the second highest rate of cancer in the nation. Now is not the time to make our waterways more vulnerable. Iowa’s Congressional delegation should protect Iowa waters and vote no on weakening clean water protections.”