House attempt to gut EPA’s enforcement of clean-water rules is dangerous

When you go swimming at the beach, do you mind if there’s a little sewage in the water?

Going fishing? Would you mind a few industry contaminants in your favorite river or lake, maybe a little mercury, with that fish fry?

Clean water is not a jobs killer — certainly not in Florida, which counts on its beaches and natural assets to lure millions of tourists and billions of dollars here. Yet U.S. Reps. John Mica, an Orlando-area Republican, and Nick Rahall, a West Virginia Democrat, have sponsored a bill that seeks to gut the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate water quality, wetlands protection and the removal of mountain tops in coal mining.