Thursday, February 07, 2008
USA Water Theft
American Congress Moves To
Seize Control Of All U.S. Waters
From Bathtubs To Baptismal Fonts, Congress Moves To Give the Corps of Engineers Control Of All U.S. Waters
Issue: Having been slapped down by the U. S. Supreme Court's recent decision that the words "navigable waters" in the Clean Water Act limited federal agencies to regulation of navigable waters only. Democrats and liberal Republicans in Congress are striking back.
They are attempting to pass the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 (HR2421 and S1870) that would amend the 1972 Clean Water Act and replace the words "navigable waters" with "waters of the United States." Further, it defines "waters of the United States" with such breathtaking scope that federal agencies would be required to regulate use of every square inch of the U.S., both public and private.
The proposed definition states: "The term 'waters of the United States'
means all waters subject to ebb and flow of the tides, the territorial seas,
and all interstate and intrastate waters and their tributaries, including
lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats,
sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes [a flat dried up area, esp. a desert basin.] natural ponds and all impoundment of the foregoing, to the fullest extent that these waters are subject to the legislative power of Congress under the Constitution."
Obviously, those behind this legislation have only contempt for the
Constitution, limited government and private property rights. To understand what the framers of the Constitution intended, one need only look to their writings and the writings of those from whom they took wisdom and direction.
We call HR 2421 the National Wetlands - Land Grab Bill.(It's real name is the Clean Water Restoration Act but it has very little todo with clean water or restoration. It is mostly about land use control andexpanding the power and reach of the Corps of Engineers under the CleanWater Act of 1972. )What the bill supporters are doing is using the term "Clean Water," whicheverybody wants, as a tool to pass legislation (HR 2421) that is reallyabout land use control and has little or nothing to do with clean water. Itis a huge rural land grab. Their target is land use control over all lands,both urban and rural.What it really does is give the Corps of Engineers control over nearly allprivate property in America by changing the definition of "wetlands" underthe Clean Water Act of 1972 vastly expanding the regulatory reach of theCorps of Engineers over private property.
HR 2421, The Clean Water Restoration Act, is really a massive Federal landand water power grab. It will use "wetlands" to take control over everyfarm, ranch, and piece of private property with any water on it or even ifthe landowner only engage in activities that might affect water.It expands the authority of the Federal government under the Clean Water Actof 1972 to include all waters of the U.S. and activities affecting thesewaters.It will give the Corps of Engineers control over most private property.In the words of Reed Hopper of Pacific Legal Foundation, lead attorney in alandmark U.S. Supreme Court victory, "...this bill pushes the limits offederal power to an extreme not matched by any other law, probably in thehistory of this country."
